Dolly Hiei
by MoonGCyn
Summary: Hiei has suddenly gone missing and no one knows where he is. And what's more, he's not the only one who's gone missing. Can the Tentei find Hiei and put a stop to whoever is behind this? PLANNED REWRITE/EDIT SOON TO TAKE PLACE
1. The End of a Bad Mission

A/N: okay first i just want to say that as you may know, i do not, nor will i ever, own any of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters. T_T that honor goes to Yoshihiro Togashi. i might add in a character or two from a different anime later in the story. not sure yet. but if i do, it will probably be from Digimon since that was my favorite first anime and i already have so many stories about them from years ago. anywho, lets get this story on the road. BTW: I'm not yet sure what to call this story since i have yet to decide on the main scenes for this story. so yeah.

**Chapter One**

Hiei roamed the ningenkai forest, searching for a quiet place to relax after the long and stressful day he had had. Once again, he was in a foul mood for being forced to stay in the human world, thanks to a certain idiotic human buffoon and a certain toddler who also happened to be the co-ruler of spirit world whenever his father, King Enma, was away on business.

***

After their mission ended, the spirit detectives arrived back at Koenma's office with a fuming Hiei and a very battered Kuwabara. Koenma had looked up from his absent-minded paper stamping when his office door had opened with a loud BANG! Yusuke, Kurama, and Kuwabara walked (or in Kuwabara's case, limped) up to Koenma's desk while Hiei stomped to the farthest end of the office and slumped against the wall, arms folded across his chest, with a loud Humph!

Koenma turned from Hiei to the other three. As far as he could see, Kuwabara was the only one who looked in serious need of a doctor. "What happened?" he asked. "Something tells me Kuwabara's injuries weren't from the mission."

Yusuke cast a quick glance at Hiei before speaking. "Well, basically Kuwabara had put his foot in his mouth, again, and Hiei just helped him get it out." He shrugged. Koenma looked a Kurama for clarification.

"Well," began Kurama. "Hiei was in a bit of a bad mood by the end of the mission. Just one of those days when nothing goes the way you want them to. And Kuwabara kept making comments about a few…" he paused to find the right words without angering Hiei further. "'mistakes' he felt Hiei had made during some of his fights, as well as the usual comments about size and such, adding to Hiei's growing anger and…." Kurama finished by indicating to Kuwabara's bloody state.

"Hn! Serves him right, stupid frggnfmngengin…" Hiei went on to explain just what he thought of Kuwabara, using words even King Raizen dare not utter.

Koenma nodded to Kurama, both in understanding and in thanks for the explanation. He needed to remember that it is always easier to ask Kurama for explanations than Yusuke. Koenma sighed and shuffled through random papers on his desk. "I see. Well, other than that, I assume the mission was a success?"

Yusuke perked up. "Hell yeah, nothing to it!" He exclaimed, his usual cocky self back in place. "Those wimps never even knew what hit 'em. By the way, here's your stupid box." He pulled a small black box the size of a golf ball from his pocket and tossed it to Koenma. It had blue and white swirls, like miniature galaxies, on each side along with a scattered amount of little star-like dots.

"Careful with this!" he cried, dropping the papers he was sorting. He caught the little box before it hit the desk. "It may be small, but it is a very powerful and ancient artifact that's been in our vault for centuries. It is very dangerous and very valuable."

"Really?" Yusuke asked, looking at the box with new interest. "What does it do?"

The office was silent for a moment, as everyone waited to hear what Koenma would say. Well, everyone except Hiei. He was still cursing Kuwabara with every name he could think of. And when he ran out of ideas, he would start over again.

"Well," Koenma began. "I have no idea what it does."

CRASH!

Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara fell to the floor in exasperation. Unfortunately, Kuwabara was too weak and sore to get back up. Hiei ignored them. Yusuke glared at Koenma. "What the hell do you mean, you don't know?!" He yelled. "You're telling us we risked our lives, again, for a box that might actually be useless?!"

"I don't know what it does because I was never able to touch it!" Koenma yelled back. "Dad never let me go anywhere near it. He said it was too dangerous, even for me. That's why it's been locked in the vault for so long. Dad is the only one who knows what it does, but he won't tell anyone, not even me. But if you want to ask him, go right ahead but just remember that 1) you're not suppose to even know about it, and 2)this isn't even suppose to leave the vault, let alone the palace. If he finds out it did, there's no telling what he'll do."

Yusuke was quiet as he thought this over. It looked like a very painful process. Finally, he looked up. "Fine. Can we go now?"

Koenma sat back down and leafed through his papers again. "Well, I don't see any other missions right now, so yes, you may go. Oh, and Hiei."

Hiei stopped as he was about to head for the door. He turned back to Koenma. "I know you can't stand Kuwabara," Koenma said. "But don't forget the rules: If you kill a human-"

"I know!" Hiei snapped. "Why the hell do you think he's been alive for so long?" Then he turned and stormed out the doors before anyone could stop him.

Koenma sighed. "Keep an eye on him, you guys. Just in case he ever forgets the rules in his anger.

"Of course." said Kurama. Then they walked out the doors and headed home.

* * *

*MoonGCyn: so what did you guys think of the first chapter? At first I was going to make this a one shot but I got so into it that I already have ideas for the next chapter so it will be up soon. And don't worry, I'm not going to be one of those writers that gives up on a story half way through or stops updating. Comments and flames are welcome as long as they are ideas of how I should have made this better. I might consider them for my next chapter or story. so questions, comments, conserns, you know the drill. so please review. thanx*


	2. A Peculiar Room

*A/N: okay, first off I'd like to say thank you to those who reviewed and I agree the first chapter seemed to be a bit random, I apologize deeply. I noticed that too when I reread it a few days later. I seriously wish I had added more stuff in it like I had wanted to in the first place but I wasn't sure how long the chapters were allowed to be. Now I know. Any who, I also want to inform everyone who is reading this that I have finally decided on what this story is going to be about. It took awhile but I finally got it. I rewrote the summary and finally gave this story a title. I already have every other chapter down but it is so difficult to get it all down on paper the way I imagine it but I'll try. Thanx again to those who reviewed and all. Well, here is chapter two.

**Chapter Two: A Peculiar Room**

Hiei continued walking through the ningenkai forest until he found a comfortable looking tree. One of the only things he actually liked about this human world was its trees. He never had to worry about the tree suddenly trying to eat him or being attacked by a creature living in it. All of the animals here fled in terror as soon as he got close, which was just fine with him. Less hassle than having to chase them off and getting into a fight he would rather not have to bother with like he would have in the Makai.

Jumping half way up the tree, he took a seat on one of the thick sturdy branches and started to doze off. Even though he was in a less threatening realm, he never completely let his guard down and today was no exception. Half an hour after he had settled down, he felt a sudden presence. It was a strange feeling, like suddenly being thrown into a room full of hatred, bloodlust, and most of all, mischief. It was a feeling he sensed often but then he reminded himself that he was not in the Makai, meaning that if there were feelings like this floating around, then they were not good.

"Damn it, this doesn't even concern me!" he shouted to himself. "Why should I care?" He tried to ignore it but as the feeling got stronger, his curiosity started to get the better of him. "Might as well go check it out, since it doesn't look like I'm going to get any peace otherwise. Who knows, it might actually end up being a worthy foe." And off he went.

The energy grew and grew the further he went until he could almost taste it. Yet he couldn't find the damn source. He stopped running and looked around him. He was getting deeper into the forest, further away from town. "Where the hell is it?" he wondered aloud. "It can't be too much farther, I can feel it." Taking a few steps forward, Hiei suddenly felt the ground loosen beneath him and the next thing he knew, he was falling down a large hole. "What the hell?!" he exclaimed, before feeling a sudden pressure coming down on him from all sides. It felt like an invisible hand had reached into his chest and was squeezing the air from his lungs. He was starting to get lightheaded from lack of oxygen and he turned his head from side to side, trying to find something to grab onto to stop his falling. Nothing. '_Don't panic.'_ Hiei thought to himself, as he had to struggle to breath. '_If you panic, it will just make it worse. Nothing good ever comes from panicking.'_

Looking down, Hiei noticed the hole was getting brighter the further he went. Finally it became light enough to see. Not finding anything to grab on to and not wanting to become part of the ground, Hiei decided to jump from side to side as he went down to slow his fall. When he got to the bottom, he landed on his knees and looked around, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. He gasped a few breaths of air as the tightened feeling in his chest subsided. He looked to be in a large cave, lit with torches scattered along the walls. '_Torches?'_ he thought. '_That's kind of overrated.'_

Hiei walked further into the cave, searching for a way out. There were no doors in the cave, just rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Hiei looked up at the hole he had fallen from, only to see that the hole was no longer there. "What the hell?" he demanded. He looked back into the cave to see that it was no longer a cave. It had changed into a little room, with sky blue walls and sea foam-green carpet. The room was filled with toys of every kind: dolls, race cars, airplanes, boats, stuffed animals and many others. What caught Hiei's attention, however, was the opened doll house in the middle of the room. It was one of those doll houses that opened up so you could see the inside. What was so peculiar about it was that one of the bedrooms looked exactly like the room he was in right now. He walked closer to the doll house to get a better look. In the center of the little room was an open doll house, just like the one he was looking at.

"What the hell?" he said again. He looked around the room he was in, and then looked back at the toy house. He noticed that something was different about the room but he couldn't tell what. He looked around him again and then back at the house. Suddenly he knew what was different. A black shadow –like mark was on a wall in the doll house but when he looked behind him to where the mark would have been, there was nothing there. He turned back to the little room, and his eyes widened. The shadowy mark seemed to be moving. He watched as it grew bigger until it was covering half the wall. Then he watched as it started to slide down the wall, moving along the floor toward the smaller doll house. It stopped just in front of the doll house before rising up into the form of a person. As it did, Hiei got the sudden feeling that someone was standing behind him. Before he could turn around, two black shadowy arms wrapped themselves around and around Hiei's body, immobilizing him. As he struggled, he was suddenly pushed forward toward the doll house. The shadow in the doll house lurched up to him and the next thing Hiei knew, he was surrounded in darkness before losing consciousness.

*A/N: wow I had a lot of fun writing this one. I just know the next one will be even better and I already started writing it so chapter three should be here soon. Please review. Thanx*


	3. From Short to Mini

*A/N: Okay. I wasn't planning to submit this chapter for another few days but I can't help it. I have so much going on in my head for this story that I need to get it all down before I lose it. I realize that the last chapter was a bit short. It didn't seem that short when I was writing it but I just can't concentrate well, especially with the environment I'm writing in. not easy but I try. I just feel so overwhelmed. Aagh! I'm gonna lose it, I know it. Deep breaths. Hhhaaa hooo okay now it's now time to start the chapter so away we go.

**Chapter Three: From Short to Mini**

Sunlight fell across Hiei's body, covering him like a warm blanket. Hiei slowly opened his eyes, feeling as though he had been asleep for days. He lifted his head, drowsily, and looked around him. He was in a small bedroom with sky blue walls and sea foam green carpet. He sat up, noticing a lightweight blanket surrounding his legs. He turned to look out the window to determine how late it was and stared. He quickly got up and ran to the window.

Outside was not the trees and sky, as he was expecting. Instead, there was a larger version of the room he was in. "What the-" he muttered. He turned his head to where the sun was coming from, only to see that it was actually a lamp sitting on an old wooden toy chest facing his window. What really startled him was that the lamp and toy chest were larger than he'd ever seen.

He turned on his heels and darted out of the door and down the hall. On his way, he noticed a room with tiles on the walls and floor. Skidding to a stop, he realized it was what Kurama had said was a bathroom, a room where you bathed and did your business.

He was about to continue on passed when he glanced at the, _what was it called again?,_ bathtub. A shadow of what looked like a person was sitting behind the shower curtain. To Hiei, the person looked a bit feminine. Thinking she was a real female bathing and remembering what Kurama had said about privacy, he refrained from pulling back the curtain. "Hey." he said to the figure. When she didn't respond, he continued. "Something strange is going on and I am not amused. I woke up in a room and a larger room similar to mine was outside my window. Now what the hell is going on? Explain."

He glared at the figure when she didn't answer. "You are trying my patience, wench. Now explain." Finally Hiei lost his patience. He stomped up to the tub and pulled back the curtain.

***

Yusuke sat on the couch with his feet on the coffee table, watching TV and finishing off his third bowl of chocolate chip ice cream. "Man, I'm stuffed!" He put the bowl on the table and sighed in content. "We need to hang out like this more often."

Kurama walked out of the kitchen and leaned against the side of the couch with his arms crossed and a frown of disapproval on his face. "Yusuke, you really should watch what you eat; it's really unhealthy to be eating so much junk food. And would you please get your feet off of the coffee table? It's bad enough that you're eating in the living room, which, if I remember correctly, I told you we don't do."

"Aw, relax, Kurama." Yusuke said, putting his feet down. He leaned back into the couch and folded his arms behind his head. "I didn't spill anything and your table is fine, see. Besides, if you want to talk about watching what you eat, you should talk to Hiei. That guy can eat through an entire bathtub of ice cream by himself in less than ten minutes. Oh, wait. I mean '_sweet snow_'." Yusuke rolled his eyes and turned to look at his red-headed friend. "By the way, where is Hiei? I haven't seen him since that stupid mission yesterday. Normally when I spend the night here, I wake up in the morning to see him asleep in a corner or by the window. It almost felt strange waking up and not seeing him anywhere. I mean, I know he's mad but he needs to get over it, you know?"

Kurama nodded. He had to admit, it was a bit unusual that Hiei hadn't come back yet. "It is a bit strange but perhaps he just needs a bit more time to calm down and gather his thoughts. If you recall, he was very close to killing Kuwabara yesterday. Imagine what would have happened if you and I hadn't been there to stop him."

Yusuke grimaced. "Kuwabara would be mince meat. I can just see it now; Hiei ripping him to shreds and then burning up the pieces. Ew, barbequed Kuwabara. Gross."

Kurama nodded again. "Precisely why I feel Hiei hasn't shown up yet; he may just need time to calm himself." Though Kurama could feel something was wrong. He couldn't feel Hiei's ki anywhere. Yesterday, several hours after they had all left Koenma's place, Hiei's energy had all but vanished. He knew that Hiei couldn't have gone far, since he was restricted by Koenma to stay within this town. So where is he?

"Hello, earth to Kurama." Kurama looked up to see a worried look on Yusuke's face. "You okay? You've been spacing for a while now. What's up?"

Kurama shook his head. "It's nothing. Just thinking about whether or not Hiei will be alright and if he can control himself enough to not do something he'll regret."

"Neh, Hiei's too smart to do something stupid. Most likely he's off somewhere, hunting down poor defenseless animals to kill since he can't kill Kuwabara. He may even bring back dinner. Hehe." Yusuke laughed. "I think that would make him the man that brings home dinner but then which of us is the woman that does all of the house chores?" He gave Kurama a look.

Kurama glared playfully. "Very funny but then what would that make you, the baby?"

Yusuke glared back. "Hey, I'm no baby. I'm fifteen years old, thank you very much. I even have the body to prove it, wanna see?"

Kurama shook his head, pretending to feel sick. "I'd rather not, thanks."

Just then there came a knock on the front door. Kurama opened it to find Kuwabara and Botan standing on the other side. "Hey, you guys." Kuwabara greeted. "I found Botan on the way here. She said she needed to talk to us about something."

"Of course, come in." Kurama opened the door wider for them to go in. "Would you like some tea?"

"Sure, that would be lovely." Botan said, smiling her usual cheerful smile. She and Kuwabara sat down on the couch next to Yusuke.

Kurama took Yusuke's bowl off the coffee table and walked into the kitchen. Several minutes later, Kurama came back in with a tray full of tea cups filled with tea. Then he sat down in an armchair and waited for Botan to speak.

After taking a sip of her tea, Botan spoke. "Well," she started. "This past week people have been disappearing all over the place. And not just humans; demons too. It's odd, they just vanished. Spirit world is trying but we can't find any of them anywhere."

"So then does that mean we have another mission?" Yusuke asked. "Figures, just when we were trying to take a break. Well at least this might help Hiei with his anger issues, unless someone would like to make more idiotic comments to piss him off again." At this he looked accusingly at Kuwabara, who flushed slightly.

"Actually, that's the other reason I've come." Botan went on. "It seems Hiei has also gone missing."

"What?!" Yusuke exclaimed. "What do you mean, 'gone missing'? How?"

"We don't know but we feel that it may have to do with the disappearances of all of these others." Botan explained. "Koenma said that his disappearance was the same way the others disappeared. One minute he was there, the next he wasn't. It's like he's been erased."

Kurama looked troubled. "Well, that explains a lot."

Everyone turned to stared at him. "What are you talking about? Explains what?" Yusuke asked.

"Yesterday, after Koenma had asked us to keep an eye on Hiei should he decide to do something drastic, I subconsciously used my energy to keep track of him. Last I sensed, he was further towards the forest, which is where he always is." Kurama paused, thinking. "But a few hours later, it was like he was gone. I couldn't feel him anymore. At first I thought he had left the town even though he knows he's not allowed but I knew he wouldn't do something that foolish. He would be caught before even getting past the city limits, am I right?"

Botan nodded. Kurama continued. "And then last night he didn't come back. Usually he jumps up to my window for a place to sleep or when he wants company, but last night he didn't."

Yusuke nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he wasn't here this morning either. I stayed the night last night and I didn't see him once, like I normally would. I knew there was something strange about that."

"So let me get this straight." Kuwabara said. "Our mission is to find Hiei and these other people that disappeared and find the one responsible, right?"

Botan nodded again. "That's right. The best person to start with would be Hiei since we know him well enough to know where he would and wouldn't hang out. Since we know he doesn't like human contact, we should try all of the places that humans hardly ever go."

"We also know he likes trees and ice cream." Yusuke added in. "Maybe we can try the forests and the ice cream shops."

"I doubt it." Kuwabara contradicted. "Hiei doesn't like humans, remember. He wouldn't eat anything a human made unless he was absolutely sure he could trust it."

"Oh, yeah." Yusuke muttered. "Man, if only Hiei was here. We could use him to help us find him and the others."

Kurama and Botan sweat dropped at Yusuke's idea of logic. "Well since he isn't," Kurama said. "We're just going to have to search for him the old fashioned way."

Yusuke groaned. "Well, we better get started then."

***

Hiei pulled back the shower curtain to find that it was indeed a female but she looked very peculiar. She was sitting in the tub, completely clothed, but hadn't moved when Hiei had pulled back the curtain. In fact, Hiei had the feeling she wasn't even a real person. Bending to get a closer look, Hiei noticed that he was right. Her clothes and her facial expression were painted onto her face and body, which he noticed was plastic. "She's a doll." He muttered to himself.

Hiei turned and continued running down the hall and down the stairs. When he got to the front door and flung it open, the shadowy figure was standing on the other side. "You!" Hiei snarled. "What did you do to me?! Where am I?" He reached to his side for his sword, only do find that it was no longer there. "Where's my sword?"

The shadow solidified to reveal a demon with shoulder-length purple hair and a face covered in what looked like orange paint with beady black eyes that smiled mischievously. He put his orange claw-like hands on his flashy red suit jacket and grinned mockingly at Hiei. "So, Sleeping Beauty awakens." He said with a cackle. His voice was an annoying voice that reminded Hiei of a snake. "I was almost afraid you had died."

Hiei glared at the demon. "Answer me!" He yelled. "What the hell did you do to me?!"

The demon laughed mockingly. "Tsk Tsk. Such language, such temper. I take it you're not a morning person, eh?" He laughed as Hiei got angrier with each taunting minute. "Poor baby needs a time out. Oh, what to do."

Finally Hiei couldn't take it anymore. He leaped at the demon, intent on ripping his head off. Suddenly he was stopped in mid-leap, and then thrown back against the side of the staircase, colliding with the banister and breaking it. When he sat up, the demon laughed at him, teasing him by making funny faces. "Aw, what's the matter, munchkin? Did you get a booboo?" he cackled. "Maybe you shouldn't do anymore violent acts. It's not very nice behavior for a dolly. By the way," he said, as an afterthought. "All dolls have their own homes, so congratulations on your new house. Unfortunately you are not allowed to leave it, ever again." Then he laughed loudly and vanished, leaving Hiei staring at the spot the demon had been standing in with new horror. How was he going to get out of this one?

*A/N: this was a pretty good one to write. I couldn't decide how to end it. I couldn't stop writing. I can already tell the next chapter is going to be hard to write yet hard to stop. Agh what to do?! Oh well, please review and all that jazz while I get started on my next chapter before I go insane and burst with ideas.*


	4. Hiei Sold

*A/N: let's see… I couldn't really decide how to start this next chapter and I was in a major writers block. But after reading some of the reviews I got, it suddenly became clear. So without further ado or however you spell it, let the chapter begin….*

**Chapter Four: Hiei Sold**

"So, let's see. If I was Hiei, where would I be?" Yusuke muttered out loud. He walked through town, heading towards one of the parks. He glanced at the mall as he passed, watching all the people bustle about, doing their shopping and hanging out. "Well, not in there, that's for sure. That's the last place he would be. Way too many people, even for my comfort. Man, it's Saturday for crying out loud! Couldn't Hiei wait until a school day to go missing? At least then we would be doing something productive and more valuable with our time than going to class."

"Wow, that last sentence almost sounded intelligent." said a calm yet sarcastic voice behind him. Yusuke turned to see Shizuru coming out of the mall's main entrance.

"Hey, Shizuru. What are you doing here?" Yusuke said, walking back to her.

Shizuru shrugged, taking a puff of her cigarette. "Well, since I came out of the mall with shopping bags I would think it was pretty obvious that I was shopping."

Yusuke rolled his eyes but didn't comment. Even though she was Kuwabara's older sister, she could be pretty scary when she was pissed. "Yeah, I guess it was pretty obvious. So, are you on your way home or not yet?"

"Not yet. I have a few other things I need to do first." Shizuru said, taking another puff. "Say, where's my baby bro? He said this morning that he was going over to Kurama's house because that was where you guys were."

"Oh, yeah." Yusuke said. "Well, he was with us but we're all split up right now. We're looking for Hiei."

Shizuru raised an eyebrow. "Shorty did quite a number on my bro, from what I saw when he came home yesterday. Why in the world would he go looking for him, is he that eager to die?"

"Well, actually." Yusuke confessed. "It's part of a mission. See, a bunch of humans and demons have been disappearing recently and now Hiei's missing, too. Koenma thinks that Hiei's disappearance might be linked with the others and so he thinks that if we find Hiei, we'll find the one who's doing this."

"I guess that makes sense." Shizuru said after a moment of thought. "But why are you over here? Knowing Shorty, he would rather be where there are trees, not people. I would think one of the parks or the forest would be your best bet."

Yusuke nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm actually headed towards the park near the library right now. If I can't find him there, then I'll just keep going to the next one until I either find him or run out of parks. Kuwabara and Kurama split up and took opposite ends of the forest. We were going to meet up back at Kurama's house in a few hours."

"I see. Well good luck. I'll catch you guys later and tell Kazuma not to stay out too late, and if he's going to stay the night somewhere, to call first." Then she turned and walked away.

"Sure, see ya." Yusuke said, then turned and started heading in the direction of the park. About an hour later, Yusuke still hadn't found Hiei. "Damn it, where the hell is he?!" Yusuke yelled, after finishing off his third park. He had about two more parks to go and he was getting bored and hungry. "Well, better head to the next one." He muttered before taking off again.

*******

Kurama continued to search the forest, trying to pick up Hiei's energy. So far, he hadn't been able to feel anything even close to Hiei's energy and now he only had less than an hour left to search. He searched all of the tree tops and behind every boulder and anywhere else he could think to look but no dice.

"This is very odd." He muttered to himself. "Where could he have gone? I don't sense any odd energy waves. Everything feels relatively normal." Yet something wasn't quite right. If only he had bothered to pay closer attention to where Hiei went when he was keeping track of him. That would have helped greatly. "Well, I'm not going to find him just standing here."

A few moments later, as Kurama was about to call it a day, a noise to his right made him stop. He walked over to where it had come from and stopped when a young looking squirrel ran out from behind a bush and up a nearby tree. Kurama was about to turn and head back when something shiny caught his attention. Looking back, he saw it again, hidden under the bush the squirrel had run out of. Kneeling down, he reached under and grabbed it, pulling it out. It was a sword, a sword that Kurama recognized very well. After all, he and Yusuke had to keep Hiei from using it on Kuwabara the other day when he had practically pulverized him. Abruptly, he stood and searched for anything else, anything that would tell him where to find Hiei.

Twenty minutes later, after constant searching, Kurama was forced to give up. Taking a deep sigh, he reluctantly turned and, taking the sword with him, headed back home.

*******

Hiei slammed his fist into the window once more. Again, the window shattered, and then mended itself, looking brand new and undamaged. He was becoming very aggravated and tired. He had been trying for the past half hour to fight his way out but everything he smashed would mend itself again. He'd tried to break through the walls, the windows, even climbing out of the chimney. It was almost like a lid on the top of the chimney even though he could easily see the sky as he climbed up. And what was more, he was getting hungry. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten.

Hiei walked into the kitchen. He knew there wouldn't be anything edible here but decided to check anyways. As he expected, when he opened the fridge, everything was plastic and glued to the shelves. The inside wasn't even cold. He opened every cupboard, getting the same result each time.

Turning away in disgust, he heard a knock on the front door. When he answered it, the demon that had done this to him was standing on the other side with a mocking grin on his bright orange face. "Having fun?" he teased. "Getting settled in, are we?"

Hiei glared at him and tried to close the door in his face. The demon caught it and flung it open with enough force to push Hiei back a few steps. He walked into the room, as though he owned the place. In the doll house, he was at least seven feet tall, his purple hair lightly brushing the ceiling. Yet when he had been standing outside the door, he had been at least twelve feet compared to Hiei's current state. He turned to face Hiei. Before he could speak, Hiei snarled, "Change me back!"

"No." the demon said flatly. "No, I don't think I will. Actually I came to give you a bit of good news. Would you like to hear it?"

Hiei glared at him. "What are you talking about?" he demanded.

The demon grinned smugly, clearly enjoying his power over Hiei. "I've decided to let you out into the world." He said dramatically.

Hiei raised his eyebrows is shock. Could he actually be getting set free? Was he being released? Then he narrowed his eyes at the demon suspiciously. "What's the catch?"

The demon's grin turned unpleasant and he raised his hands in the air, spreading them wide. "The only thing required is this." His hands glowed a strange green color. Suddenly the glow turned into a flash, blinding Hiei. When he could see again, he realized that he was lying on his back and the demon was standing over him. He tried to stand but couldn't move. His body was completely stiff. The demon laughed at him. "You have to take your new house with you. And since it is a doll house, and you are now a doll, you need to start acting like one. You won't do it on your own so I decided to help you out. Let's see, how long should I keep you this way? How about for a full twenty-four hours?"

Hiei tried to glare at the demon. The demon laughed. "I agree. Twenty-four hours seems to short. Let's try twenty-five hours." Then he picked Hiei up and placed him on the hard plastic couch. "There, all nice and comfy." Then he walked out of the doll house and grew back to his original height. He picked up the doll house, carefully making sure nothing moved out of place and locking the house so it wouldn't accidently open. "Now, let's go find us a nice little toy store." He said, and then headed out the front door of the real version of the doll house.

*******

"Why should I have to look for that murderous shrimp?" Kuwabara mumbled yet again. He had been searching this side of the forest for over an hour and a half and so far no sign of Hiei. He was getting tired and hungry by the time he stopped. "I can't find him anywhere. And I'm starving!" Then he walked out of the forest and headed back into town. Walking down the street, he suddenly felt a strange feeling. Looking around he spotted a tall man, probably about seven feet or so, with long purple hair and orange skin, walking toward a small toy store, a large pink doll house in his arms. "He doesn't look human." he muttered to himself.

As if hearing him, the man turned and grinned pleasantly at him. "Hello, there, young man. Do you happen to have any siblings that would like this here doll house? I can sell it to you real cheap. How about thirty dollars?"

Kuwabara shook his head. "Sorry, the only sibling I have is my older sister, and she doesn't play with dolls."

"Well, would you like it anyways? You could give it to a friend's sibling. Or you can give it as a gift." The man coaxed. "Thirty dollars, what do you say?"

Kuwabara shook his head again. "Sorry, no thanks."

The man wouldn't give up. "How about twenty five dollars? That's a reasonable price, right? I'll even throw in the doll."

"I said no." Kuwabara started to get irritated. Then he asked. "Why are you orange, too much sun?"

The man shrugged. "Just decided to look different than everyone else. I'm an artist, you know. I created this house and the doll."

"Oh." Said Kuwabara. "Well, I can't buy that but the toy store might."

The man nodded. "Yes, I was on my way there when I felt someone staring at me. Well, goodbye then." Then he turned and continued on towards the toy store.

After a moment, Kuwabara turned and started to walk away as a woman and her little daughter walked into the store.

Kuwabara walked down the street until he saw a store window advertising "Mini Meatballs on a Stick. Five for a Dollar, Ten for Two." Kuwabara put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a few dollars and some change. Not wanting to wait until he got to Kurama's house, Kuwabara went in. Several minutes later, Kuwabara came out of the store holding a foam bowl of meatballs in one hand and an empty stick in the other, happily chewing. "That's much better." He said.

Kuwabara continued walking, enjoying his food, when he heard a loud squeal of delight behind him. Startled by the sudden sound, he turned to see a small girl with her mother, holding a doll house in her small arms. He realized that that was the little girl and mother that had gone into the toy store when he left. And apparently, she had bought the doll house that weird man had tried to sell him.

Kuwabara was about to turn around and continue walking when something caught his eye. The little girl had tilted the house to get a better look inside. Kuwabara was able to see inside and what he saw shocked him. Inside the house was a little couch next to a staircase and sitting on the couch was a little doll. It had black spiky hair with a white starburst on his bangs and a white headband around his forehead. It had a scowl on his small face and he was wearing a black muscle shirt and black pants with several white belts. The doll looked very much like, "Hiei?" Kuwabara muttered.

*A/N: This one took forever to write. I had to rewrite this chapter over and over until I was satisfied with it. I'm still not that happy but it's better than the first draft. Please review and let me know what you think. I promise I will get the next chapter up soon.


	5. Operation: Save Hiei

*A/N: well let's see, first I want to apologize for being late with this chapter. It was really hard for me to find a computer these past few weeks. I had so many ideas for this chapter and the next one so it will most likely be up soon. At least, that's what I'm planning.

Now, to address some comments I read in some of the reviews I got. First, I want to thank you **TriskaAminawa** for reminding me about that issue with the sword. You're right, that was a completely different sword. I have gone back and changed that bit so it makes more sense. Sorry, I'm trying to keep to the original story as much as possible with facts like these. As for the setting, I was told that it was not in Tokyo. Could you please tell me what town they are in because I don't remember. Thanks again to **TriskaAminawn** for your help in making this story better and thank you everyone else for all of your reviews and helpful suggestions and stuff. Now on to the story.

BTW: _Hiei will be speaking in thought sometimes so when you see writing like this, that's what it is._ However, when he speaks out loud, which will not be in this chapter, it will be normal.

**Chapter Five: Operation: SaveHiei**

Kuwabara burst through Kurama's front door as Kurama finished explaining what he had found in the forest to Yusuke. "You guys won't believe what I've found!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Yusuke picks up the sword and shows it to Kuwabara. "Check out what Kurama found in the forest. It's Hiei's."

"Yeah, well I found something even better!" Kuwabara exclaimed, looking proud of himself.

"Mini meatballs aren't exactly what we're looking for Kuwabara." Yusuke said, indicating to the foam bowl Kuwabara was still holding.

Kuwabara glared at him. "Shut up, Urameshi! That's not what I meant." He shoveled the rest of the meatballs into his mouth and put the bowl on the coffee table.

Kurama jumped in before Yusuke could reply. "Perhaps we should let him say what he has found. It might be important." He turned to Kuwabara. "What did you find?"

"I found Hiei!" he exclaimed.

"What?!" Yusuke shouted. "You found him? Where? How? Where is he?" Yusuke looked behind Kuwabara, as if the fire demon was hiding. As if he would hide.

Kurama stood up, offering his seat to Kuwabara. "Maybe you should sit down and explain from the beginning."

Kuwabara sat down in the arm chair and explained everything that happened after he left the forest. When he finished, Yusuke was staring at him with wide eyes while Kurama stood behind the arm chair, deep in thought. Finally he spoke. "Are you sure it was Hiei? You don't think it was just a doll that looked like him?" He doubted it but he had to ask. It was possible that it was just a coincidence, since quite a few people had seen Hiei once or twice.

Kuwabara shook his head. "I'm positive it was him. Every detail on that doll was perfect, right down to that stupid scowl he always wears."

Kurama looked troubled. "It doesn't make much sense. Either someone made that doll and used Hiei for some kind of voodoo, or Hiei **is** the doll. And what's with the doll house? And more importantly, who was the guy who did this to him?"

"Hang on a second." Yusuke said. "When he said that he created that house and the doll, then maybe that's what he did to the others, too."

Kuwabara asked, "But then does that mean we have to check every doll house in every toy store?"

"No way, that's too hard. Besides, 1) we don't know if they were all turned into dolls or if they were turned into something else, and 2) what if they were already sold like Hiei? And speaking of which, how are we going to get him back? It's not like we could just go to their house and be like, "Excuse me, our friend was turned into a doll and put in that doll house. Can we have him back?" No way. They'd call the cops immediately. And I don't do authority figures."

Kuwabara looked to Kurama. "Kurama can do it. No one is ever suspicious of him. Everyone likes him, especially girls and mothers."

Kurama smiled and blushed. "Gee, thanks, though I'm not sure if I should take that as a complement or an insult. But I disagree about just going over there and asking for him back. Yusuke is right, for once, because I truly doubt they would give us Hiei, no matter who is asking. And especially us, seeing how we're guys. What do you think they would think if three teenage boys went to their house and asked for a doll?"

"Oh, yeah, that's a good point." Kuwabara said. "So what are we going to do?"

"I believe I could be of some help." said a small voice near the front door.

Everyone turned to see Koenma standing in his toddler form, holding a small bottle of blue liquid in his hand. "Koenma." said Yusuke. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to help. I just heard you guys talking about Hiei's situation and I believe I have a solution for getting him back without being noticed." Koenma said. He noticed, with some satisfaction, that he wasn't called a toddler but decided not to comment in case Yusuke changed his mind. Instead he held up the bottle of blue liquid.

"What is that?" Kurama asked. "Is it something that will change Hiei back?"

"This is a type of potion that will make you shrink when you drink it. Using this, whoever drinks it would be able to sneak in and grab Hiei and bring him back out without getting caught." Koenma handed the vial over to Kurama. "But be careful because this stuff has a time limit. You will need to plan out what you will do before drinking it. You will have exactly one hour to go in, get Hiei, and get out. As to your question of turning him back, it won't. I'm afraid, unless we get him back, we won't know what's wrong with him in the first place and so won't be able to change him back if it is him as the doll. If it's voodoo, then the doll might at least give us a clue as to where the real one is. Either way, getting the doll is the main thing that needs to be done. Now, are there any questions before you get started?"

"Yeah, I have one." Yusuke said, raising his hand like he was in school. "Why do I feel like a secret agent getting ready for a top secret mission? It feels kind of cool but weird. And who is going to be the one to drink that stuff and go get him?"

Koenma turned to Kurama. "Will I be right in trusting you with this? There is only enough in here for one person, I'm afraid."

Kurama nodded. "Of course. I should be able to find him pretty well once I'm his size. Currently, for some reason I can't feel his spirit energy with him at this size. But when I get down to the size he is now, if it is him, then it should be easier to find him."

"Good, then whenever you guys are ready, go get him." Koenma said. He was about to leave when Kurama stopped him.

"Um, how do we know which house they live in?" he asked.

"Ah, that's right. Botan." Koenma called. Botan appeared next to him.

"Yes, sir, Koenma, sir." She pulled out a little book and flipped through it until she found the page she was looking for. "Ah, here it is." She showed them the address.

"Right." Koenma said. "Now, anymore questions? No? Good, now get going before something bad happens." Then he and Botan left for Spirit World.

"Do you think he meant bad for Hiei or the people who bought him?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama shrugged. "I don't know but we need to go. Come on." Then they left in search of Hiei.

*******

Hiei could not believe this was happening to him. Not only was he shrunk down to the size of a doll but now he was as immobile as one. He could do nothing as he was carried to the toy store. Before entering, he heard the demon speak to someone, trying to get the person to buy the house. He couldn't believe his ears when he heard the person respond.

"-the only sibling I have is my older sister and she doesn't play with dolls."

'_Kuwabara!'_ Hiei tried to send out his energy to him, since he couldn't talk. Now he understood why the demon made him immobile. Unfortunately, either Kuwabara was a lot stupider that Hiei thought, or his energy was too weak from being small to get through to him. Either way, Kuwabara didn't hear him. He continued to turn down the demon's offers.

"I said no. And why are you orange, too much sun?"

"_He's a demon, you idiot!"_ Hiei couldn't believe Kuwabara. How can one be so dumb to not notice a demon when he saw one?

"Well, goodbye then." The demon said. Then he turned with the dollhouse and walked into the store.

"_Damn it, Kuwabara!" _Hiei mind shouted. _"The next time I find you, you are dead! You hear me? DEAD!"_

The demon walked to the back of the store and placed the dollhouse on the counter. "I have another dollhouse for you." He said to the store owner.

The owner nodded, looking pleased. "Yes, the last two were a big sell. They were both gone within the same day you brought them. I'm assuming this one comes with a doll as well?"

The demon nodded. "Oh, yes, though, this time I have decided to make a boy doll." He reached into the house through the front door and pulled Hiei out, showing him to the owner. "I consider him one of my best works and I would rather not sell him because he is quite _entertaining_ but I feel that I must. As you can see, he is as well detailed as the other two."

He turned Hiei over and around, showing the owner every detail. Occasionally he would turn Hiei upside down, showing his belly and texture of his clothes. Hiei was becoming angry and dizzy.

Just then the owner and demon turned when they heard a high squeal of delight. A little girl in a fancy blue dress had entered the store with her mother in tow. Upon seeing the dollhouse on the counter and the doll in the demon's hand, she squealed and turned to her mother, pointing. "I want that, mommy. That's what I want. Can I get it, please?" she begged.

Both the little girl and the mother turned to the two men. They could see the plastic crown on the girls head that read: "Birthday Girl." The demon smiled at the little girl. "Do you like my dollhouse? I made it, you know. And I made the dolly, too. See?" he handed Hiei over to the girl, who gave it a big hug. Again Hiei vowed to kill the demon.

She turned back to her mother. "Please can I get it? You said I could get any toy I wanted, remember? I want the dollhouse. Please, please, please?"

The mother looked at the doll in her daughter's arms, then the dollhouse on the counter, the two men, then back to her daughter. Finally, she spoke. "How much will it cost?" she asked, not sure which of the two men she should direct the question to.

The owner spoke first. "I could sell it for thirty-five dollars, doll included." He was going to buy it from the other man for twenty-five anyway, so he might as well sell it for ten dollars more.

The mother thought this over and then nodded. "All right, we'll take it."

"Yay!" The girl cried, dancing in circles around the store. The mother paid for the dollhouse as her daughter put Hiei back in the living room on the miniature couch. Then they both left the store, the dollhouse grasped firmly in the little girl's arms.

The demon turned back to the owner, a grin on his orange face. He held out his hand, which the owner filled with twenty-five dollars. "Pleasure doing business with you." the demon said. Then he turned and walked out of the store with a small chuckle. It was time to find his next victim.

***

"Okay, one more time. What's the plan for Operation: Save Hiei?" Yusuke whispered. "Because I don't think a birthday party was part of the plan." The three of them were hiding behind one of the large hedges lining the house. To the left, a gate leading to the back yard was open, with pink, yellow, and purple balloons tied along the wooden fence on either side. They could hear music playing and the screams and laughter of children. Yusuke groaned as the smell of barbecued chicken filled his nose.

"Can we hurry up and get this over with?" Kuwabara whined. "This barbecued smell is driving me crazy."

"All right, let's go over this again real quick." Kurama said. He too had to admit that the smell of the barbecue was reminding him that he hadn't eaten in a while either. "Now let's see. I'm going to drink the potion and as soon as I do, you and Kuwabara start the cooking timer I gave you. I'll go in the house through the front as planned. This party might help our mission, since everyone will be too distracted with the party to be in the house much. Judging by the pink curtains on that window up there with the toy unicorn, I'm guessing that that is the girl's room which means that Hiei is most likely on the second floor. Knowing where he is will help by saving us some time. When I get in, I will head straight to that bedroom and look for a dollhouse. After I find Hiei, I'll bring him out and back here before the hour is up. If I'm not back by the time the timer goes off, wait another five minutes and then one of you distract the party while the other comes after me. You guys got it?"

Yusuke and Kuwabara nodded. "Okay, well, here I go." Kurama said. Then he creped to a hedge closer to the front door before pulling out the bottle Koenma had given him and drank the contents in one gulp. Immediately it felt like his insides were being pulled to the center of his body, toward his stomach. His surroundings began to grow larger as his body began to shrink. Further and further down he went, slowly shrinking to the size of a child, then the size of a toddler, and still smaller. He was beginning to worry that the potion was to strong when finally he stopped at the size of a small rodent. Without wasting any time, Kurama climbed up the bush under the front window and climbed through the small opening, leaving behind a wide eyed Yusuke and Kuwabara.

Inside, Kurama searched for the stairs leading to the second floor. As expected, it didn't take long for him to find it, but he hadn't expected them to be as big as they were. He was wondering if he would make it to the top in time when a female voice sounded from his left. Making a split second decision, Kurama fell down at the foot of the stairs, lying as still as possible. A young teenage girl walked in from the kitchen with a large bowl in her hands. As she walked past the stairs, she noticed Kurama lying on the floor. As she bent to pick him up, she scoffed. "I knew she would leave her dolls lying around if we got her some. I told mom, but would she listen to me?"

The girl walked out the back door to the back yard and put the bowl on a long table with the other snacks. Then she walked over to a young woman and showed her the doll. "See, mother." She said, showing the doll. "I told you she would leave her dolls lying around. I found this one on the floor at the foot of the stairs."

The mom looked at the doll and then at the girl. "All right, go put it back in her room. I'm going to go talk to her. If we keep finding these dolls lying around, we're going to take them away."

The girl nodded and went back into the house. She walked up the stairs and into a bedroom. She placed Kurama on the bed and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. Kurama waited a few more minutes before sitting up. He had been hoping whoever found him would bring him to the room Hiei was in and was glad when he was. It saved him from having to climb all of those stairs on his own. Looking around, his heart sank.

There were dollhouses of every kind: large two and three story houses, old cottage-type houses, fancy fairytale houses, even beach houses and bungalows. Dolls of every size were scattered along the dressers and the bed and some were poking their heads out of the dollhouse windows.

"How on earth am I going to find Hiei in here?" Kurama whispered. He should have had Kuwabara describe the house to him. Keeping his voice as low as possible in case anyone passed by the door, he called out softly. "Hiei?" No answer. He stood on the bed and walked to the edge near the closest house. Then he jumped down and walked up to the front door and pushed it open. It was a regular one story house where you could see the living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom from the front door.

Seeing that Hiei was not there, he left and tried the next house. Another dead end. He tried four more houses, all Hiei-less, and was about to climb the dresser to get to the next one when his wristwatch beeped. Half an hour had already gone by, which meant he had fifteen minutes left to find Hiei and fifteen minutes to get him out of the house before the potion wore off.

Quickening his pace, Kurama climbed the dresser and ran into the first house. This one was a two story house with a broken staircase. He searched the entire house before leaving and trying the next. Two more houses later, Kurama came to a large purple castle with many tall towers. Kuwabara had said Hiei was in a doll_house_ but perhaps he had been moved. Kurama entered the castle through a window, since the door was blocked by a pink draw-bridge. He searched the dining room, the kitchen, and the dungeons. Then he climbed the stairs to the second floor and searched the rooms there. At the end of the hall, Kurama stopped in front of three separate stairways, most likely, one lead to the third floor while the other two lead to two of the towers. Not sure of which to take, Kurama tried to search for Hiei's energy again. It hadn't worked when he tried it after entering the house but he was hoping this time would be different because they were in the same room.

As he searched, he felt a small pull in the direction of the farthest stairway. Running up, Kurama arrived at the third floor landing. He ran down the hall, glancing into rooms as he went until he arrived at a closed room. Kurama opened the door and looked inside. There were different colored dresses on the floor. Some were big fancy dresses with frills all over; some were big elegant dresses with many layers and puffy sleeves; and even some that looked like evening gowns. There were other random clothes lying around as well: elbow length gloves, an assortment of bodices and corsets, stockings, and an assortment of female under garments. Kurama was about to leave the room when he glanced at the bed. The bed was a big fancy four-poster bed with pale pink hangings. Through the hangings, Kurama noticed a small silhouette lying on the bed. Hoping it was Hiei, Kurama walked towards the bed. As he passed a pile of clothes, he noticed a black cloth mixed in, standing out against the pinks and blues and purples and reds.

"_That's got to be Hiei's."_ he thought. Suddenly he was unsure if he wanted to see what was on the bed. If Hiei wasn't wearing his clothes, then most likely the little girl had changed him into something else. The question was: 'What did she change him into?' His watch beeped again, signaling that he had fifteen minutes to get out of the house before the potion wore off. Hurrying to the bed, Kurama pulled back the hangings.

*A/N: sorry everyone but I like cliffhangers so yeah. Please review and let me know what can be fixed. Thanks. And again, sorry for the wait.


	6. Princess Hiei

*A/N: just a quick note. Sorry if I didn't use anyone's suggestions or anything like that but I had already had things planned in my head for what was going to happen so yeah, sorry.

**Chapter Six: Princess Hiei**

"What's taking him so long?" Yusuke demanded. He didn't think he could last much longer without some food. "It's getting dark and he still hasn't come out. Hasn't he found Hiei yet?"

Kuwabara looked at the timer. "Just give him some time, Urameshi. He still has about fifteen minutes left. And it's not that dark, it's only six-thirty."

"Yeah, but I'm hungry." Yusuke whined. He looked towards the house, where the party had moved to when it started to get dark. "Besides, everyone is inside now. What if he was caught?"

"I doubt it." Kuwabara said. He was inwardly glad he had eaten those meatballs earlier. "Kurama's too smart to get caught so easily. Most likely he would hide until the coast was clear. Let's wait until the timer goes off, then we'll sneak closer to the house until the extra five minutes are up. That way we can hear if anything happens."

Yusuke continued to mumble but nodded anyway. Hopefully Kurama would be able to get out before he grew back to normal size. Otherwise, things could get complicated, and he hated it when things got complicated.

*******

Kurama stared wide eyed at Hiei's unmoving body lying on the bed. The little girl had indeed decided to dress him up. He was wearing a blood red velvet gown that would most likely reach to the floor when he stood up. Kurama could see that it had many layers, which was what made the gown look so bulky and puffy. He wore elbow-length red gloves that looked to be made of fine silk and Kurama noticed the long white silk stockings and ruby red fancy heels that looked to be quite painful to walk in. The gown had puffy shoulder straps and Kurama could see that Hiei had a white corset underneath, which pushed up his … chest?!

Kurama took a closer look and was relieved to see that Hiei's 'chest' was actually just silly putty the little girl had molded and placed under the corset. Kurama shook his head, both in disbelief and worry. Hiei would be furious if he knew what that little human girl had done to him. Kurama turned his head to look at Hiei's face. His lips were blood red and he had his hair flattened down on his head, reaching to his shoulders, a thin red headband peaking out underneath. Kurama was surprised to see just how feminine Hiei looked. To anyone other than those who knew him, Hiei could have easily been passed off for a girl like this. Kurama also noticed that Hiei wasn't wearing the white headband around his forehead and was able to see the almost invisible line where his jagan eye would be.

Kurama was still staring at Hiei's face when he jumped back, startled. Hiei's eyes had shifted to stare at him, unblinking. He inched closer to Hiei until he was leaning over the bed. "Hiei?" he asked quietly. Just then he heard the sound of children's voices and before he could react, the bedroom door burst open and four little girls came giggling in.

Kurama quietly ran to the little window and peaked out. The little girl that had bought Hiei had brought three of her friends into her room and they were currently looking over the other dollhouses. Kurama turned and walked back to Hiei. "Hiei, we have to go." he whispered. When Hiei didn't move, Kurama reached to pull him up and froze.

"Wait until you see my new dolly." the little girl's voice rang out in sing song. "It's a boy dolly and he even has the boy parts."

Kurama grabbed Hiei's arm and started to pull him up but suddenly the floor started to move, causing him to lose his balance and fall forward onto the bed. The little girl was opening the dollhouse. Kurama whispered a quick apology to Hiei and dived under the bed as the dollhouse was pulled wide open.

The little girl reached in and picked Hiei up off the bed and showed him to her friends. Kurama peaked out from under the bed in time to see Hiei being turned upside down, the velvet gown falling over his face as the little girl showed her friends the small bulge between his legs. Again Kurama sent Hiei a silent apology and averted his gaze as the girl pulled back the white cloth hiding his genitals and instead searched for a way to get himself out of the dollhouse without being seen before the potion wore off. Kurama looked at his watch: seven minutes left.

As he searched, he heard a girl mutter, "It's soft like real skin. How did they make it feel that way?" and another say, "Is that really what a boy looks like under there? But what are these round things?" Kurama frantically searched until he noticed a small pot with a single flower on the night stand next to the girl's bed.

Carefully he sent his energy out to the plant. It started to grow bigger, until it was fully opened and twice as large as before. Then he had the plant push a root against the inside of the flower pot until it cracked.

As he was hoping, the girls turned around at the sound of the cracking pot, turning their backs to the dollhouse. Kurama took that opportunity to crawl out from under the bed, run to the edge of the open dollhouse and jump down. He landed silently on the ground as his watch started to beep. Fortunately for him, the girls' awed voices over the flower drowned out the beeps of his watch. He quickly turned it off and frantically searched for a place to hide as he felt himself slowly starting to grow.

His eyes landed on the closet, the door standing open slightly, and darted in as he reached the size of a small child. Kurama waited until he had grown completely back to normal before peeking out to see the girls goggling at the flower, Hiei lying forgotten on the bed. Kurama thought of how to get Hiei back when an idea hit him. He sent his energy out to the flower again and this time had the flower send a root out from the back of the pot out of the girls' view. It crawled down the wall and across the floor, slithering under the bed. It emerged from the foot of the bed and slithered up the comforter to rest next to Hiei's small form. Gently, it scooped him up and carried him to the closet and into Kurama's hand, before slithering back to the flower pot, all the while remaining unseen by the girls.

After a few moments, the girls turned around to play with the doll again only to find it missing. They searched for the missing doll, occasionally asking each other where they had last seen it. Kurama started to think of a way to get the girls out of the room when the birthday girl spoke again.

"Well, let's look for it later. I have more dollies in a box in the closet. I'll go get 'em."

Kurama looked around him and noticed that the closet was half full of princess dresses and capes. Quickly and quietly he pushed his way through until he was completely hidden. He pressed himself against the wall and stood still as the closet door opened and the little girl stepped in. He held Hiei close to his chest and tried to breathe as quietly as possible, leaning as close to the wall as he could.

The little girl dug through her closet, occasionally pushing the puffy dresses against Kurama, searching for the box with the rest of her dolls. Kurama was starting to think he was going to suffocate with all of the dresses pushed against him when finally the girl found the box she was looking for and dragged it out of the closet, closing the door behind her.

Kurama waited a few more seconds before letting in a much needed breath of air. He pushed the dresses away from him and went to the closet door, listening for the girls' voices. Judging by the voices, they had started playing with the dolls. Kurama thought of everything he had seen down stairs while he was being carried around by the little girl's sister, and remembered seeing a small green fern hanging from the ceiling next to the front door.

Quickly, Kurama sent out his energy once more and directed it toward the plant. He had the fern expand the way he had with the little girl's flower. Only this time he had it continue to expand until it cracked the pot and the entire thing went smashing to the floor. The girls' voices stopped when they heard the sound. Then Kurama heard them all get up and run out the door to see what had happened.

Kurama took that moment to sneak out of the closet and out the window, landing cat-like in the grass, Hiei held firmly in his right hand. Then he darted to the hedge he had left Yusuke and Kuwabara behind. Yusuke jumped up first.

"What took you so long?" he demanded. "We were just about to decide if it was time to go get you when we heard a loud crash come from the house. We were waiting for someone to scream before going after you but then you…" He stopped when he noticed the doll in Kurama's hand. "Is that, uh, Hiei?"

Kurama nodded. He tried to keep his hand around Hiei's body to hide his clothes but Kuwabara swiped him out of his hand. He held Hiei up for everyone to see. He and Yusuke took in the sight of the dress, the gloves, the shoes, and the hair and make-up. Unfortunately, they lost it when they noticed that Hiei's chest was several times bigger than it should have been. They both collapsed into a fit of laughter, Kuwabara laughing so hard that he dropped Hiei. Kurama caught him before he hit the ground and glared at them.

"If you two are done, we need to get out of here before someone notices us and calls the police." Kurama snapped. The other two fell silent and followed Kurama back to his house. They avoided looking at Kurama's hand, in case they started laughing again.

***A/N: Well that's all for now. Sorry it's so short but I can't think of how to start the next piece so I will just submit this one as is and use the time between chapters to figure out how I'm going to start the next one. Sorry these chapters are taking so long.**


	7. Now What?

**A//N: hey everyone! Sorry I've been taking so long to post. My classes have been slave driving me like crazy. Here's chapter seven now and chapter 8 will be up at least by Monday. After Christmas, when classes are over, I should have more time to write the rest of this story. I'm planning on finishing this story sometime next year at least. So until then you are just going to have to bear with me.**

**All disclaimers are in chapter one. Don't be lazy and try to sue me for something I already told you I didn't own. I don't own anything of value and I hardly have enough money for college. You will just be wasting your time and mine and the people you go nagging to****.**

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_TO EVERYONE WHO IS READING THIS FIC, SORRY BUT I AM HAVING A BIT OF A HARD TIME GETTING CHAPTER WHATEVER IM ON, ONTO MY COMPUTER. FOR SOME REASON MY LAPTOP WONT LET ME UPLOAD ANYTHING AT ALL. NO PICTURES, NO VIDEOS, NO DOCUMENTS, NOTHING. AND IT IS SERIOUSLY GETTING ON MY NERVES. AND I FINALLY FINISHED THE CHAPTER ON TIME TOO. THIS SUCKS BUT THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW. MY BOYFRIEND IS COMING DOWN FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR AND I HAVE ASKED HIM TO BRING HIS LAPTOP. I WILL RETYPE IT ON HIS LAPTOP AND POST IT ON FFN A FEW DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS. NOT ONLY THAT BUT I WILL ALSO BE CONTINUING ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER, SO BY CHRISTMAS I SHOULD, AND WILL, BE POSTING TWO CHAPTERS INSTEAD OF ONE AT A TIME. THIS TIME. WE'LL SEE HOW IT GOES FROM THERE. MY BOYFRIEND HAS VOLUNTEERED TO HELP PITCH IN FOR A NEW LAPTOP, SO THINGS SHOULD BE GOING SMOOTHLY SOON. AGAIN, SORRY EVERYONE AND PLEASE BE PATIENT. THANK YOU AND THANK YOU TO ALL MY READERS FOR STICKING WITH ME THROUGH MY SNAIL-PACE UPDATING. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU._

_AND FOR THOSE WHO ARE ALSO READING TWO STRANGE CHILDREN AND AN ODD DEMON, I AM ALMOST DONE WITH IT AND WILL ALSO BE POSTING THE NEXT CHAPTER BEFORE CHRISTMAS. AGAIN, THANK YOU SO MUCH._

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**Chapter Seven: Now What? (title subject to change)**

Yusuke and Kuwabara managed to get back to Kurama's house without any more fits of laughter. Kurama entered his home to find his mother sitting in the living room watching television. She turned her head in the direction of the front door and smiled.

"Oh, hello Shuichi, dear." Shiorigreeted. She got up from the couch and gave Kurama a quick hug.

"Hello, Mother." Kurama said, hugging her back and keeping Hiei hidden at the same time. "We'll be up in my room working on our homework if you need us."

"Oh, okay. Hello, boys." She said, greeting Yusuke and Kuwabara. "Will you two be staying for dinner?"

"Um," Yusuke looked at Kurama, who nodded, and then back to Shiori. "Sure, we'll stay, if that's alright."

"Of course it is, otherwise I wouldn't have asked." Shiori said with that kind motherly smile. Then she glanced behind them, as if looking for another person, then turned to Kurama. "Where's Hiei, dear? I haven't seen him in a while. He's not with you?"

Yusuke and Kuwabara shifted nervously but Kurama, being the quick thinker that he was, shook his head. "No, he had some things to take care of out of town and said he wouldn't be back for a few days."

"Oh, that's too bad." Shiori said with a worried expression on her face. "I hope he's alright."

"I'm sure he's fine." Kurama said quickly. He didn't want to upset his mother, so he added, "I just spoke to him this morning. That was when he told me he would be back in a few days."

The worried expression left her face and she smiled. "Oh, that's good. Well, anyway, I will have dinner ready in about half an hour. Make sure to wash your hands before coming down."

"We will. Thank you, Mother." Kurama turned and lead the way up to his bedroom. He hated to lie to her but he couldn't very well tell her the truth. Telling the truth about Hiei would require revealing everything about him as well. And that he could not and would not allow.

As soon as the three entered the room and Kuwabara closed the door, Yusuke let out a sigh of relief and flopped down onto the bed. "That was close. Good thinking, Kurama. Like I would ever actually do homework."

"Yeah, I never would have thought of that." Kuwabara said, sitting on Kurama's desk chair.

Kurama walked to the window, sat down on the ledge, and took a closer look at Hiei in his hand. The doll was unmoving and Kurama could barely feel Hiei's energy, even though he was right in his hand. He turned the doll over and examined it from every angle, being careful not to flip it over after realizing that the little girl had completely removed the little cloth that had covered his genitals. There was nothing other than the small amount of energy that told him that Hieiwas still alive.

"So, now what?" Yusuke asked, watching Kurama examine Hiei. "Is he alive?"

Kuramanodded. "Yes, he is alive. However, his energy is very faint. I'm hoping it's because of his size and nothing to serious. We'll know more when we get him back to Koenma."

"But what do we do for now?" Yusuke asked. He glanced at Hiei, wondering what he must be thinking about this whole thing. "I don't think we should go now. It's late and I'm starving."

Kuwabara nodded in agreement. "Yeah, do you think we can wait 'til tomorrow?"

Kurama nodded as well. "Yes, we should, indeed, wait. It's late and I don't want to worry my mother if I leave the house so late. But first…"

Kurama stood up and walked across the room. He gently placed Hieion his desk and walked to the door. Before exiting the room, he turned and gave them both a hard look. "I will be right back. Don't break anything and leave Hiei alone. You two have had enough experience with Hiei's temper to know what he would do to you if you mess with him." At that last statement, he glanced at Kuwabara, who winced. Then he turned and left the room.

After Kurama left, Yusuke stood up and walked over to the desk. Carefully, he picked Hiei up and looked him over. He gazed down at his face, examining it, and then finally set him back on the desk.

"His eyes look like regular doll eyes but I have a feeling Hiei can see." He told Kuwabara. "I think Hiei is still able to see and hear everything that's going on, even though he can't move or talk."

Kuwabara looked at Hiei, motionless on the desk, and back at Yusuke. "That's creepy; a doll that watches you and can see and hear everything and you not even knowing it. Gives me the chills." He glanced at Hiei again. "But how's it possible?"

Yusuke shrugged. "I'm not really sure, but I just have a feeling that he can. But first thing we need to do, if he _can_ see and hear, is figure out how to get him to start moving again. Maybe if he were to start moving again, he could tell us how he ended up this way without talking. Like miming or something."

Kuwabara glanced down at Hiei, thinking about the demon he had met earlier. Nothing the guy said told him how he had turned Hiei into a doll in the first place. He just said that he had created the house, not even mentioning a doll at all.

As Kuwabara sat thinking, Kurama reentered the room, carrying a small box the size of a shoe box in one arm and the other arm full of different colored pieces of cloth. Without speaking, he walked to his desk and set the pile of cloth down and then put the box on top.

"Hey, Kurama, what are you doing?" Yusuke asked as he and Kuwabara watched him. "What's that stuff for?"

Kurama ignored him for the moment and opened the box. He grabbed a small measuring tape, regular scotch tape, a pair of scissors, a small red ball full of pins, and a small pack of sewing needles. Then he moved the box to the side and started sorting through the pieces of cloth. Most of them were dark colors such as black, blue, green and red.

As he sorted through the fabric, he paused and glanced down at Hiei. Then he pulled out a piece of black cloth and set it aside. Grabbing the measuring tape, he carefully measured the length of Hiei's legs from hip to ankle, then around his waist, marking down the measurements on the fabric as he went. Finally, when he was finished, he set the tape measure down and carefully, he marked all of the measurements onto the fabric until he had drawn pants. Then he took the red ball of pins and wrapped the strap around his hand with the pincushion set on the back of his hand. Then he carefully wrapped the cloth around Hiei's legs and pinned it to the shape he wanted. When he had finished, he grabbed the scissors and cut along the outer edges of the fabric, making sure not to jostle the pins out of place. After finishing that, he reached into the box and pulled out a smaller, clear box full of different colored thread. Selecting the black thread, he threaded it through a needle and sewed the fabric together along the inside of the pins. After all of this was done, he removed the pins, returning them to the pincushion he still wore, and cut off the extra cloth before pulling the whole thing off and flipping it inside out and putting it back on him. "There, that takes care of that."

Having felt that he stayed quiet long enough, Yusuke asked, "Where did you learn to sew? I didn't know you knew how to sew. And I guess it would be decent to get him out of those clothes, huh? Actually, that's not bad. They almost look store made."

Kurama looked at him. "Well, first of all, most clothes aren't made in stores but rather, they're made in factories and shipped to stores to be sold. Unless the shop is family owned, of course. And second, I learned to patch my clothes up on my own in order to survive the different weather conditions in Makai. However, to make clothing in general from scratch, my mother taught me. It's simple though, nothing fancy or anything, just enough of a form to be considered clothing. But I still need to make a shirt and perhaps a belt, since these pants might be a bit loose."

Kuwabara shrugged. "Well, it's better than whatever I could have done, which isn't much. I can't sew for the life of me, Shizuru is usually the one to do all that stuff."

Kurama nodded and turned to leave the room. "I'll be right back. Don't touch anything."

Yusuke glanced down at Hiei and lifted the skirts of Hiei's dress. "He didn't do such a bad job. But I wonder what he's going to do about Hiei's *ahem* chest."

Kuwabara glanced at Hiei as well, eyeing the bulge on his chest. "I wonder what that's made of. I hope that girl didn't decide to be an Augmentation specialist or something and make them permanent."

Yusuke looked at Kuwabara in surprise. "Wow, Kuwabara, I'm surprised you actually knew such a big word. What does that mean, anyway?"

Kuwabara blushed before mumbling an incoherent word.

"Huh?"

"I believe he's trying to say 'breast implant'." Both boys looked up to see Kurama standing in the doorway with a small cup of foggy-looking water in his hand. "And no, that's not what happened. Judging from the texture and color difference, I'd say the girl used some sort of clay or putty."

Kuwabara went even redder. "What do you mean 'judging from the texture'? You didn't pull a Urameshi and groped him, did you?"

"Hey!" Yusuke shouted in offense. "I didn't grope anyone."

Kuwabara glared at him. "You did too. Remember that one guy when we first met Toguro in that mansion? The one that turned out to be a cross-dresser?"

Yusuke thought about this, then his face lit up in recognition. "Oh, yeah, I forgot all about that guy, uh, girl… whatever."

Kurama walked to his desk and set the cup down. He pulled a small wad of Kleenex from his pocket and placed them next to the cup. "By texture," he said without looking at them. "I mean yes I did touch that area but no, I didn't 'grope' him. I merely touched his skin from the neck to the top of the dress until I was able to feel the texture difference where his skin met the 'new chest'. You can feel the difference and that is how I was able to figure out that it was fake. However, it's possible the girl used glue or something similar to keep it in place, so I brought a cup of warm water mixed with a bit of soap to help get it off just in case."

Yusuke nodded in understanding. "I get it."

"Of course you do." Kuwabara said sarcastically.

"Hey!"

Kurama ignored them and went back to working on Hiei. He took a letter opener from his desk and slit open the top of the dress down to the waistline. Then he folded the cloth back and felt around again until he was able to locate the crease between his skin and the putty. Gently, he tried to peel the putty off with the tip of his fingers and nails without tearing the skin. The putty remained stuck to Hiei's skin. Kurama grabbed a piece of tissue from the wad, dabbed it in the water and wrung it out a bit before gently rubbing it along the crease. After a few wipes, the putty started to peel and stick to the tissue in small chunks. Kurama put the piece of tissue aside and grabbed another, repeating the rubbing motions several times in different places until more and larger chunks started to peel off. Finally, with the tissue wad nearly disappearing, Kurama managed to peel off the putty, leaving Hiei's natural, smooth skin exposed.

"Right." He muttered to himself as he pulled the dress off. He set it in the small trash next to his desk and grabbed another piece of cloth, this one a dark blue. He followed the same steps he took when making the pants, this time aiming for a shirt-shape. After he had finished making the entire shirt, sleeveless since he was still unable to make a decent pair of sleeves, he flipped it right side in and put it on him, careful not to jostle the headband from Hiei's forehead. Then he took one of the small scraps of the blue cloth and cut off a single long strand and wrapped it around Hiei's waist, tight enough to keep the pants from slipping but not tight enough to hurt. "That should do it."

"Again, nice work, Kurama." Yusuke complimented, observing Kurama's handiwork. "At least the girl left his shoes on, because I would expect shoes to be hard to make."

Kurama nodded in agreement. "I've never made shoes. I'd imagine the process being very difficult and time consuming. It wouldn't have seemed worth it to try to make all that when Hiei might not even be like this for very long."

"Okay, so now that that's done, what do we do now?" Yusuke asked.

At that moment, there came a knock on the door. "Come in." Kurama called.

Shiori came in with a smile. "Dinner's ready. Wash your hands before coming down, okay?" As she was about to leave, she spotted Hiei on the desk. "Oh, what's that?"

Figuring it was too late to hide it or play dumb, Kurama showed it to his mother. "It's a doll." He said needlessly.

"Yes, I can see that, but where'd you get it?" She reached out and took it from him. "It's so cute. It looks just like Hiei."

"Um, well," Kurama said, wracking his brain for an explanation. Before he could give one, however, Yusuke spoke up.

"It's Hiei's." He said. "A girl made it for him 'cuz she likes him but Hiei doesn't know that. So she asked us if we could give it to him for her with a message. She said that she wants to know if he would go out with her and to give her his answer as soon as he can. I guess we'll just have to wait until he gets back though, before we can give him the doll and the message." Yusuke paused, and then added. "I wonder how he'll react?"

Shiori smiled. "That's so sweet. Ah, to be young again." Then she handed the doll back to Kurama and walked out of the room, calling behind her, "Don't forget to wash your hands."

After she had left, Kurama and Kuwabara turned with identically shocked expressions to Yusuke, who was smiling with a smug grin. "What?" he asked cheerily. "I can make up a good story too. It was perfect and I'm actually surprised that I was able to keep a straight face through it."

Kurama was the first to recompose himself. "Um, Yusuke, you do realize that if Hiei can really hear you, then he just heard your explanation for the doll and will most likely kill you."

Yusuke's expression quickly changed to horror. "Gyah, you're right. I'm screwed." He turned to the Hiei doll with a nervous chuckle. "Uh, Hiei, you know I didn't mean that, right? You know, about the whole girl wanting to go out with you and making the doll for you, right?"

"Come, Kuwabara." Kurama said, picking up Hiei and pointedly ignoring Yusuke plea. "We should hurry to wash our hands and get downstairs before the food gets cold."

Kuwabara snickered and followed Kurama out the door. "Right, wouldn't want to let the food get cold after your mom was so kind to make it for us."

"Hey, guys, wait up." Yusuke said, following behind.


	8. I Can Move

**A/N: okay things are getting a lot easier for me to update so it will be getting quicker for me to update. Sorry if that isn't making any sense. My mind is wandering and it is getting difficult for me to pay attention long enough to make proper statements. Anywho, my boyfriend is helping me with this so here's the next chapter and I hope you guys like it okay. Don't forget to R&R. ;-)**

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**Chapter Eight: I Can Move!**

After dinner, the boys helped Kurama's mother by doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. Then they headed upstairs to Kurama's room to see if anyone had any new ideas about Hiei's predicament. None of them could think of anything to do for Hiei and after a while of failed brainstorming, Shiori called up to them.

"Kazuma, there's someone on the phone for you! She says she's your sister!" she called.

Kuwabara looked at the alarm clock on Kurama's desk and winced. "Uh-oh. I was supposed to be home ten minutes ago. Shizuru's not going to be happy about me being late." He said as he headed out the door.

Yusuke looked at Kurama. "Um, hey, by the way, do you mind if I ask you a favor?"

Kurama raised an eyebrow quizzically but didn't answer.

Yusuke continued. "See, my mom went on another drinking frenzy today when she found out that they had made a new type of booze. It's supposedly called Blood Bash and it's suppose to knock you out pretty quickly and give you a massive hangover in the morning and just straight mess you up. And my mom, being my mom, just had to try it and see if it lives up to its label. She once went a whole three days and a few cases of booze before she finally passed out cold on the living room floor. So it can get pretty messy and not exactly safe. So do you mind if I crashed here tonight?" He looked at Kurama hopefully.

Kurama considered this, staring at Yusuke without speaking and causing Yusuke to squirm uncomfortably. Finally, he nodded his head with a small teasing smile from making Yusuke squirm. "I don't see why not. But we'll have to ask my mother, just in case. I'm sure she'll say yes, especially when she hears why you want to stay."

Yusuke nodded in agreement. "I'm not saying she's a bad parent or anything, but she can be pretty crazy when she's on one of those drinking sprees." Yusuke explained, sounding to Kurama as if he was trying to defend his mother's parenting skills.

"Of course." Kurama said. "One of the things about my mother is that she doesn't like to judge people by what's on the outside and she doesn't really like when others judge people either. She likes to believe there is still good in people no matter how bad the situation."

Yusuke looked intently at Kurama, thinking that if that was how Kurama's mother was, then why does Kurama still refuse to tell her who he really is?

As if sensing what Yusuke was thinking, Kurama cleared his throat and looked down at Hiei in his hands. "I wonder if Hiei needs to eat?" he muttered.

Yusuke's eyes widened. "Hey yeah, I was kind of wondering that myself. How do you feed someone who can't open their mouth? And how do we even know if he can eat at all?"

Kurama shrugged, glad for the change in subject. "I'm not sure. Hiei has gone days without eating before, so one day shouldn't kill him. However, I don't know how long he will be like this and I don't really want to test how long he can go without. Maybe we can look into it more tomorrow when we go to see Koenma."

At that moment, Kuwabara reentered the room with an apologetic expression. "Heh, sorry guys. I gotta go. Like I said, Shizuru isn't happy with me for being late. So I have to go now but we'll meet back here tomorrow?" he asked Kurama.

Kurama nodded. "Yes, my mother goes to work early tomorrow, so the house will be empty the majority of the day. We can meet here and go to school together before we go to Spirit World."

"Right, okay then I guess I'll see you later." He turned to Yusuke. "You coming or are you going to stay here a bit?"

Yusuke shook his head. "Naw, I'm going to spend the night here. My mom is on one of her drinking sprees. Not sure how long she'll last this time."

Kuwabara nodded in understanding. "Got it. Hey did she hear about that new booze that came out? My sister was talking about it to my parents earlier today. Says it's pretty extreme."

Yusuke nodded. "Yeah, she's heard of it. That's actually what she's drinking right now. She's trying to challenge what the rumors say about it."

Kuwabara shuddered. "Can see why you want to stay somewhere else. Okay, well I have to go. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"See ya." Yusuke said.

"Bye." Kurama said. After he had left, Kurama turned to Yusuke. "We should probably go down and ask my mother if you can stay the night before she goes to bed."

"Oh, Shuichi." Shiori said when they came downstairs. "I was just about to call it a night. Yusuke, you didn't go with Kazuma?"

Yusuke shook his head. "No, actually I was wondering if I could ask a question. Would it be okay if I spent the night here? My mom's drinking tonight and it's best to stay out of the house when she does."

"Oh." Shiori said. A concerned expression crossed her face. "Of course you can stay. You can stay as long as you need."

"Thanks but it's just for tonight." Yusuke said quickly. He wasn't sure he liked the expression she had. "She's not so bad, really. It's just she would rather drink without me in the house. You know, as a safety thing."

Shiori nodded. "Of course. That's actually very responsible of her to continue to look out for her child. Of course you can stay."

Yusuke bowed his head respectively. "Thank you."

"We're going to bed now Mother." Kurama said. "We have to get up early for classes tomorrow, after all."

Shiori nodded, her expression clearing up and her motherly expression returning. "Yes, you certainly do. You kids are young and you need as much sleep as possible for tomorrow. I'll make some breakfast for you two before I leave."

"Thank you mother, but you don't have to." Kurama said, knowing full well that his mother would wave that away instantly.

"Nonsense." She said. "I'll do it. I wouldn't feel like I'm doing my motherly duties if I didn't."

Kurama smiled, guilt creeping into his stomach. He ignored it. "You do more than enough."

Shiori smiled back at him. "Thank you, sweetheart. That means a lot." She paused then asked, "What about Hiei? Did his parents call in his absence already?"

"Um, yes, I believe Hiei said something about that before he left." Kurama said. Kurama still wasn't sure how his mother would react when she found out that Hiei didn't have any parents. Nor was he sure how to explain that to her.

"Oh, good. Did you say he was by himself or with his whole family?" she asked.

"With his whole family." Kurama said. "I think it was a family thing they went for."

"I see. Okay, well I'm off to bed. Don't stay up to late." Then she and the boys headed up the stairs to their designated rooms.

"Whew, that was close." Yusuke said, entering the room. "So she doesn't know about Hiei's non-existent parents yet?"

Kurama shook his head as he closed the bedroom door. "No, she thinks that he and his parents live here, somewhere close to the school."

"Oh." A moment of silence, and then, "I wonder if Hiei would actually start going to school with us."

Kurama shrugged as he prepared the futon by the opposite wall for Yusuke. "If he does, it would be kind of interesting having the whole tentei at the same school."

"Yeah, I know." Yusuke said, plopping down on the futon with a thump. "I still can't believe you switched to our school. Our teachers flipped when they realized just how smart you really are. I bet the first thing they thought of was how greatly your test scores would bring up the schools scores and reputation. Greedy bastards."

Kurama shrugged again. "Well, it's not like I actually had much of a choice. After the incident at my old school, it was difficult to want to stay there. And at least your school offers the same type of classes I've been taking back there. So it's not like I'm actually losing anything important."

"Except maybe your fan club." Yusuke muttered with a snicker.

Kurama threw a pillow at Yusuke's head, getting a perfect ten out of ten. "Like I said, 'it's not like I'm losing anything _important_."

Yusuke chuckled, then stretched out on the futon, laying on his newly acquired pillow. "Yeah. Okay, time for bed. See you in the morning." He yawned, and then turned over onto his side, facing the wall.

"Good night, Yusuke." Kurama muttered. He walked to his closet and grabbed a blanket and threw it over Yusuke, then grabbed his pajamas and toiletries before placing Hiei on the desk and heading to the bathroom. When he returned, the first thing he heard was Yusuke snoring with his mouth hanging wide open. Kurama chuckled as he picked up Hiei and turned off the light before he walked to his bed, pulled down the blankets and slid underneath before placing Hiei on the pillow next to him. He took off Hiei's belt and placed it on the floor next to the head of his bed before pulling the blankets back up to his chest, making sure to cover Hiei as well. "Good night, Hiei."

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The next morning, Hiei woke feeling groggy and stiff. Out of habit, he stretched and yawned before realizing that he could move again. "I can move." He muttered. Quickly he sat up and tested his limbs. His fingers curled into a fist a few times and his arms and legs didn't seem to be having any problems except for the fact that they were all stiff as hell. "But I'm still a doll." He said with a frown.

Groaning and stretching again, he stood up on the bed, quickly grabbing his pants as they started to fall, and turned to take in his surroundings. He noted Kurama sleeping peacefully on his side, strands of his red hair draping over his face and the rest spread out wildly around his head like a red halo. Hiei turned and noticed Yusuke on the futon, and remembered the conversation he and Kurama had last night. Yusuke snored on the futon, lying on his back with his mouth hanging open and one leg hanging off the side.

Rolling his eyes, Hiei jumped from the bed to the ground, grabbed the make-shift belt Kurama made for him, and tied it around his waist. Feeling hungry, Hiei headed to the door in search of food. When he got to the door, however, he noticed a problem. How was he supposed to get the door open? "Crap." He muttered. Quietly, he searched the room for something he could use to open the door.

As he searched, he noticed Kurama's desk and memories of the night before flashed into his head. Remembering that Kurama hadn't put the sewing tools away, Hiei walked to the chair and climbed up to the seat. Then he climbed to the top of the chair and climbed onto the desk. He searched the box of sewing supplies until he found a large roll of tape. Grabbing the roll, he jumped back down to the ground and walked to the door.

"Right, let's see." Quickly, he pulled a strip of tape and continued to pull, forming a kind of lasso with the sticky part. When he was finished, he threw the loop up to the door knob. After several failed attempts, he cursed and kicked the roll, making it hit the door with a thump. Turning to make sure Kurama and Yusuke were still asleep, Hiei started looking for something else to use when he heard a noise coming from the other side of the door.

Hiding against the wall behind the door, Hiei watched as the door opened and Kurama's mother poked her head in. Quickly, he scurried out of the room just as she shut the door. Quietly, Hiei followed Kurama's mother down the hall until he got to the stairs. "Damn it." He whispered to himself.

Hiei watched as Kurama's mother walked down the stairs and to the kitchen. As he was looking for a way to get down the stairs, Kurama's mother came back out of the kitchen with her purse and left the house.

Searching, he figured out a way to get down. First, he climbed up the banister and then, positioning himself just right, he pushed from behind and slid down the rail. Unfortunately, he hadn't planned a way to stop, and so ended up flying off the banister and slid across the floor on his belly. Grumbling, he picked himself up and dusted off his clothes before heading into the kitchen.

After a quick glance and a sniff, Hiei headed toward the table and climbed up the chair legs and onto the table. Walking across the table, Hiei approached a plate with a metal lid and scurried under. Carefully, he used what little energy he had to make a small flame in his hand. Lighting up the air, he found that he was on a plate full of scrambled eggs. Smirking, he put out the light (it's not like he needs to see in order to eat), and began shoving handfuls of eggs into his mouth.

Meanwhile, Kurama's alarm went off, signaling 7:00a.m. Stretching, he got up and turned off the alarm before turning and gently shaking Yusuke. "Yusuke, wake up. It's time to get ready for school."

"No, go away." Yusuke grumbled, turning over and pulling the blanket over his head.

"Yusuke, get up." Kurama said, pulling at the blanket. "We have school in an hour, so we need to get up and get ready, then go down stairs and eat before brushing our teeth and walking to school. So get up or we're going to be late."

"Nuh uh. It's too early." Yusuke mumbled.

Kurama threw his hands in the air with a huff. "Fine." Then he walked into his closet and grabbed his bag of toiletries and headed for the bathroom. When he came back out, he placed his bag in his closet and left the room. He entered the kitchen and grabbed a mixing bowl from one of the cupboards. Then he walked to the fridge and grabbed a few ice cubes, placing them in the bowl. Then he filled the bowl with cold water from the sink before walking back up to his room.

"Yusuke, I'll tell you one more time: get up." Kurama warned.

Yusuke mumbled and incoherent phrase but didn't budge.

Then without another word, Kurama upended the bowl over Yusuke's head.

"What the hell?!" Yusuke shouted, jumping off the futon and glaring at Kurama.

Kurama smiled innocently, holding the empty bowl out to him. "Good morning. Time for school." Then he turned and began making his bed.

"Alright, I'm up." Yusuke grumbled, wiping the water from his face. "Did you have to use such cold water?"

"Mother says there's nothing like a cold shower to wake you up in the morning." Kurama said without turning around. "And I warned you."

"Humph!" Yusuke said. He grabbed his green jacket that had somehow ended up on the floor and put it on. "Do you have any hair gel?"

Having completed his bed, Kurama turned to Yusuke with an amused smile. "No, Yusuke, I don't."

"Oh, right. Never mind then." He shrugged his shoulders and ran his hands through his hair a few times. "Right, let me just go to the bathroom real quick."

Kurama grabbed the now wet blanket and draped it over the rail of the stairs. Then he reentered his room and put the futon back into its original form. After Yusuke came back, they both went downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Wow, your mom really went out of her way for us." Yusuke said, gazing at the spread of dishes on the table. He sniffed the air. "And everything smells great. Beats the hell out of cereal."

He and Kurama sat at the table and Kurama pulled the lid off of one of the plates to find a good portion of the eggs gone. Kurama's eyes widened in surprise. "Strange, mother usually doesn't eat that much egg." Then he reached over and took the lid off of another plate, revealing several missing sausages. Quickly, he uncovered the last plate to find Hiei sitting on the plate, eating the potatoes.

"Hiei!" Yusuke exclaimed.

Hiei looked up at them.. "Took you guys long enough." He said with a mouth full of potatoes.

"How did you get down here?" Kurama asked. "And how did you get on the table?"

Hiei shrugged and stuck another potato into his mouth. "Wasn't hard." he muttered.

"Hey I just thought of something." Yusuke said. "What are we going to do with Hiei while we're at school? We taking him with us?"

Kurama nodded. "We can't leave him. There's no telling what could happen to him if he's left alone, especially in his condition."

"Hello, I'm still here you know." Hiei muttered, though not really caring. "Guess that's the second time you forgot that today."

"Sorry Hiei." Kurama apologized. "But we do need to take you with us. We're planning on going to Koenma's right after."

Before Hiei could answer, there was a knock on the door. As Kurama went to answer it, Yusuke glanced at Hiei. "So, how do you like being a doll?" he asked stupidly.

Hiei glared at him but didn't answer.

Yusuke nodded. "Right. So, um, how are you able to move like that? Oh, and are you made of stuffing or are you normal inside? And how exactly would that work when your skin is like, what, cloth?"

Hiei rolled his eyes. "I don't know, possibly normal depending on what normal is, and I don't know."

"Oh." Yusuke said before scooping some eggs onto his plate.

"Hey, Urameshi." Kuwabara said, walking into the kitchen with Kurama. Then he spotted Hiei and his eyes widened. "Whoa, you're alive. I mean, you can move."

Hiei rolled his eyes again. "Yes, idiot, I can move. And talk. No thanks to you."

Kuwabara frowned. "What's that supposed to mean? I didn't do this to you."

"No but you saw me in that damn dollhouse and you even said my name, but didn't do anything. Talk about useless." Hiei said.

Before Kuwabara could respond, Yusuke stuck a sausage link into Kuwabara's mouth. "It doesn't matter now. Now we just need to worry about turning you back."

Kurama nodded in agreement. "That's right, but before we do that, we need to get to school before we're late."

Yusuke glanced at the clock on the wall above the table. "We still have about half an hour. Plenty of time to eat."

"Hey, mind if I join you guys?" Kuwabara asked, gazing at the food.

Kurama shook his head and gestured to a vacant chair across from Yusuke. "Not at all."

The four of them finished eating, and then Kurama stood up. "Kuwabara would you mind helping me with the dishes? Yusuke, there's an extra toothbrush in the medicine cabinet. It's still in its package, so it's sanitary."

"Right." Yusuke said as he got up and headed upstairs.

Kuwabara cleared the table, handing dishes and silverware to Kurama to wash. Hiei sat on the table and watched until Yusuke came back with his school bag.

"Well, I'm ready." He said.

Kurama turned off the water and dried his hands on a dish towel before placing it on the counter and heading up to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Then he went into his room and grabbed his school bag before heading back down stairs. "Yes, I believe it's time to go. Hiei?" he said, holding his hand out for Hiei.

Hiei looked at it before stepping on. "Don't get used to this, fox."

"Of course not." Kurama said with a smile. Then the four of them headed out the door and on their way to school.

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**A/N: well, this chapter took a while. But I finally got it done. Sorry it was kind of slow. I just couldn't think of any way to pick up the pace with this one. It just didn't come out the way I had it in my head. But the next chapter should be interesting.**

**Just a quick preview into what I have planned for the next chapter: they take Hiei to school, where he decides to wander off and explore. Sound interesting? Hope so. I've already started it and I hope it gets out of my head the way I want it to. We'll see I guess.**


	9. First Day of New School

**A/N: Hello everyone. I got my fifth review saying that they want me to keep writing, so as promised, I will start updating as quickly as possible. I am currently in progress of getting a new, better laptop. Once I do, updating should progress greatly.**

**First though, I want to apologize for the long delay. Been so busy and all. Things are getting better though. Second, I know I said that this chapter was supposed to be with Hiei wandering the school but if I put all of this in one chapter, it would be an extremely long, long, LONG chapter. So I decided to give Hiei's exploring its own chapter. It should be up by tomorrow, the day after tomorrow at the latest.**

**Enjoy the chapter. DISCLAIMERS IN THE FIRST CHAPTERS!**

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**Chapter Nine: First Day of School**

Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara entered Sarayashki Junior High School dressed in their normal street clothes, their book bags at their sides, and Hiei tucked safely in Kurama's pocket and staring out from behind the bag. Several students glanced at them as they past; or rather they stared at the new student walking with 'those Urameshi and Kuwabara punks', some wondering what he was doing with **them** and others were wondering if he was a boy or girl, since they could no longer depend on the uniforms to tell them.

"Man, I am so glad they finally decided to ditch those stupid school uniforms." Yusuke said, eyeing a group of girls that were goggling openly at Kurama. "I hated those things; they were so uncomfortable."

"What are you complaining about, Urameshi? You never actually wore the uniforms." Kuwabara countered.

"Hey, I tried." Yusuke said defensively, pulling his hands out of the front pockets of his light blue jeans and crossing them behind his head. "I wore the stupid uniform but that much blue just isn't my thing, so I chose green instead."

Kuwabara rolled his eyes and shoved his hands into his pockets. Even though they didn't have to wear their uniforms anymore, Kuwabara still wore the pants, and occasionally the blazer, feeling that just because they weren't required anymore didn't mean he had to stop wearing them. "Well, I guess you have something you can thank that group of girls for. If they hadn't gone complaining to the entire office about those idiots flipping their skirts everyday and then threatening to go to the school board with their mothers if they weren't allowed to wear pants, you would be getting hauled to the office right now for not wearing proper school attire, again. And so would we, come to think of it."

"Yeah, yeah." Yusuke said around a yawn. "Well, we have to go to the office anyways so we can get Kurama's schedule and –ow! – what was that for?" he demanded, rubbing his ribs and glaring at Kurama.

"Don't call me that." He hissed. "Remember, in public places like this, I'm known as Shuichi."

"Yeah, right." A voice said sarcastically from Kurama's pocket.

Kurama glared down at his pocket. "And _you_ shouldn't speak at all. The last thing we need is to have the whole school going on about a talking doll."

"Hmph!" Hiei mumbled.

"I still don't see why we have to call you Shuichi at all." Yusuke said as they entered the building and headed towards the office. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that I don't want people to be calling me that in case an enemy hears them that knows me and attacks them or something." Kurama explained.

"Yeah, well it's going to be difficult." Yusuke said. "We're so used to calling you Kurama. What if one of us ends up calling you that by accident or something? Or when Hiei calls you fox?"

"First of all, Hiei isn't going to call me that because he's not going to be speaking at all. As far as the whole school is concerned, and that includes us, Hiei is **just** a doll." Hiei let out a low growl but otherwise remained silent. "And second, I realize it might be difficult, so I guess we can make it a nickname or something."

"Hey, yeah." Kuwabara said. "Maybe it can be like a name created by our gang or something."

"Gang?" Kurama asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kuwabara chuckled. "Yeah, the whole school thinks Urameshi and I are part of a gang or whatever. We're like rebels or something. If you hang out with us, you'll most likely be labeled the same."

"And it will be harder for you to get a fan club." Yusuke added helpfully with a smirk.

Kurama glared at him. "That, I can do without." They stopped in front of a closed door. "So we agree that Kurama will be a nickname?"

Yusuke and Kuwabara nodded. "Yep, and no one is allowed to use it unless they are in our group, or else they have to answer to me." Yusuke said, jerking his thumb at his chest.

"Or me." Kuwabara added. "They're afraid of the both of us. It's hilarious. We never used to hang together so at first it was Urameshi everyone feared. Then he… um well… you know. D-i-e-d. And then it was me for a while. Then when he came back, we started hanging out together a bit and caused the entire school to go in a panic. Like they thought we had combined forces and were going to start a massacre or something."

Yusuke nodded. "Yeah, so Kurama will be your nickname. And that way Keiko can use it too without any suspicion because she hangs with me anyways. Her friends think I'm going to slaughter her one day or something. They're so stupid. This whole school is stupid."

"Who's stupid, Urameshi?" a voice said from the other side of the door. Suddenly the door slid open and a slightly heavy set man stood in the doorway, a frown on his face as he glanced at them in turn, stopping to glare at Yusuke. "And to what do I owe the honor of being graced by your presence, Urameshi?"

"Relax, old man; I'm not here to kill anyone today." Yusuke said nonchalantly. "We're just here to get Kurama's class schedule."

"Kurama?" the man said. He turned to Kuwabara and then glanced at Kurama. "I'm assuming that's you?"

Kurama nodded and extended his hand. "Yes, I'm Shuichi Minamino. **They** call me Kurama, though I would prefer Shuichi." Kurama explained.

The man nodded and shook his hand. "Well, I'm Mr. Takenaka, the schools guidance counselor. I was told we would be getting a new student today and thought I'd come out to meet him. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise." Kurama said.

"I was told you're test scores were remarkable and your manners impeccable." He indicated to Yusuke and Kuwabara. "If you're friends with these idiots, then maybe you'll rub off on them and they'll actually get their work done."

"Hey!" Yusuke and Kuwabara said in unison.

Kurama chuckled. "Of course. Though I'm afraid it might be impossible, I will give it my best shot."

"Hey!" They said again, this time to Kurama.

Mr. Takenaka chuckled. "Oh, relax you two. It's not like its news to you." He turned back to Kurama. "Well, let's head into the office and get your schedule." He steered them into the office, several of the staff glancing at Yusuke and Kuwabara wearily. They glared back. Mr. Takenaka led them to his office, where he stopped at his desk and picked up a small manila folder and handed it to Kurama. "I requested this when I heard you were coming. Being the guidance counselor, it wouldn't seem unusual for me to ask for it. This contains your schedule, code of conduct, the new dress code, etcetera, etcetera."

"So, what's the new dress code now?" Yusuke asked.

"Basic." Mr. Takenaka answered. "Nothing with holes, no open toed shoes, skirts need to be to the knees or lower, jeans can't drag on the ground and should cover your rear ends, things like that. Trust me; no one wants to see your butts."

"How would you know?" Yusuke shot back.

Mr. Takenaka glared at him before turning back to Kurama. "If you ever need anything, or these two giving you a hard time, come see me. That's what I'm here for."

"Thank you." Kurama said with a bow.

Several minutes later, the three of them stood out in the hallway, leaning against the wall next to one of the windows and glancing at Kurama's schedule. "Jeez, I don't think you have any of our classes." Yusuke said.

"Well, I am in a grade higher than you two, so I would expect not." Kurama said. "Looks like I have English first, followed by Geometry, and then Chemistry and Gym. Then I have lunch, Art, History, and Spanish."

"Hey, I have two classes with you." Kuwabara said. He pointed to two of the classes. "See, Art and Spanish."

"I didn't know you took Spanish." Yusuke said, peering at the schedule again. His eyes widened in surprise. "Hey, I do have two classes with you; Gym and Art."

"What are all these classes?" Hiei asked quietly, barely above a whisper.

"Well, classes are for teaching students new things that they can use for the future, different grades being similar to levels in the material. For example, sixth grade work would be higher than fifth grade but seventh grade would be higher than sixth. And as for the subjects themselves, English is basically as it says. We learn how to read, write, and talk in English." Kurama explained. "We learn the grammar, spelling, and basic concepts. Geometry is a type of math where we learn to add numbers together to get a larger number, or subtract to get a lower number. Except in Geometry, we learn more of the measurements of shapes, graphing calculations, things like that. Chemistry is basically learning about the different chemicals and their properties, components, and what happens when we mix certain chemicals together or what we would create if we were to separate chemicals."

"Gym is physical education." Yusuke jumped in. "Pretty much running, jumping, swimming, jogging, and all that stuff. No killing. Playing sports like basketball, soccer, baseball, things like that. Again, no killing. And of course, everyone knows what lunch is; food. Then there's Art, which is learning how to draw, color, learn about shapes, and everything else we learn in kindergarten. We paint or draw pictures, mold things out of clay, paint your neighbor's face when they fall asleep, things like that."

"History is pretty self explanatory." Kuwabara jumped in, glaring at Yusuke. Obviously he was Yusuke's neighbor at one point. "Learn about past events that happened in our country and other countries, learning how they differ and compare to each other, learning how none of us have learned from our mistakes, stuff like that. And Spanish is another different language. We learn how to speak it and stuff. Basically we learn the same things we learn in English, just in Spanish instead."

"Right." Kurama agreed, pulling out the schedule and slipping the folder into his bag. "Well, I better get going if I'm going to find my classes before they start."

"We'll take you to English." Yusuke said as they started walking. "All English classes are on the same side of the building. And Keiko should be able to take you to Geometry; she has it too. You're on your own for Chemistry but we can at least show you where the science part of the school is on our way to the English part. Same thing for History. Gym shouldn't be too hard, since it's not that hard to find. Just look for the big building that says 'Gym' on it. You can eat lunch on the roof with us and we'll all go to Art. And Kuwabara can meet you somewhere for Spanish."

Kuwabara nodded. "We can meet outside the Gym if you want. The History room is pretty close to the Art room, which is near the Gym. Just meet me there."

"Yusuke!" a voice shouted behind them. They turned to see a girl with short brown hair running towards them, wearing a pink short and overall combo and a long sleeved white shirt. She stopped and glared at Yusuke, her hands on her hips. "Where are you going, class is in the other direction. You're not planning to skip class again, are you?" Then she spotted Kurama and she stopped, surprised. "Kurama?"

"Hello, Keiko." Kurama said politely. "Yusuke and Kuwabara were just showing me to my classes. I was told you had my math class." He handed her his schedule.

She glanced down at the schedule for a few moments and then nodded, handing it back. "Yes, I do. I could take you to it after your English class. By the way, what are you doing in our school, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Well, there was a situation at my old school and You-know-who thought it would be best if I transferred." He explained, pointing up at the ceiling when he said 'You-know-who'. "So I talked to Yusuke about it, took the entrance test, and here I am."

"Oh. Well, that's nice. So the whole gang is here now." She said. "Well, except for Hiei. By the way, I heard what he did to Kuwabara. He really needs to learn to control his anger."

"Mind if I practice on you?" Hiei said, popping his head out from Kurama's pocket.

Keiko squeaked in surprise and took a startled step back. "Hiei!" she exclaimed.

"Shh!" They all said together. "No one can know about him." Kurama whispered. "He disappeared yesterday after the mission and when we found him, he was turned into an inanimate doll. This morning he was able to move and speak again but he's still a doll. We were going to take him to You-Know-Who after school but we couldn't leave him home by himself in the mean time, so we had to bring him with us."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asked. "What if he falls out or you lose him?"

They glanced at Hiei. He glared back. "We'll just have to take that chance." Kurama said.

Together they walked down the halls to the English section of the school, each of them pointing out the other sections as they passed them. "Well, I guess this is my stop." Kurama said, stopping in front of the door to his class. "I'll see you afterwards?" he asked Keiko.

Keiko nodded. "Yeah, just meet me here. I have Biology right now but I'll be here afterwards."

Kurama nodded. "Alright, then I'll see you all later."

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**A/N: Alright, everyone. So what did you think? I feel it was kind of slow but the next chapter will be even better. Please be patient. Thanks for reading. Please review.**


	10. Hiei Causes Mischief

**A/N: Okay, as promised, here is chapter ten. Hiei decides to wander the school. ALONE. What will he do? Who will be his unlucky victims? Read and find out.**

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**Chapter Ten: Hiei Causes Mischief**

After handing his schedule to the teacher and allowing him to introduce him to the class, Kurama sat at an empty desk near one of the back windows and pulled out a notebook and pencil from his bag. "Hiei, try to stay hidden and as patient as possible, please." He whispered towards his pocket.

"Hn, just hurry up, fox." Hiei whispered back.

"Hiei, I can't just hurry up. I can't control the class time. You're just going to have to be patient." He replied.

"Whatever, just do what you need to and get me out of here." Hiei snapped before retreating into the pocket.

Kurama sighed and straightened in his seat, waiting for the teacher to start the class. Meanwhile, Hiei waited and listened as the 'teacher' told everyone to open their textbooks to page 42. He listened as the teacher explained the definition of the three words he had written onto the 'chalkboard'. _What the hell's a chalkboard? _Hiei thought. Quietly, he popped his head out from the pocket enough to see but not be seen. Several human children sat in rows in the same things that Kurama was sitting in. _Desks, he called them._ Hiei watched at an older man walked in front of the rows, pointing to a long board on the wall, half of it white and the other half green.

_That's a chalkboard?_ He thought. _It looks stupid. Like these stupid humans couldn't decide whether to make it white or green so they made it both. Figures._ Hiei glanced at the green part of the board. On it were three rather large looking words: **Amplification**, **Incredulous**, and **Decapitate**. _I know those words. Amplification is when sound is louder that is should be. Like if the deranged harpy were to start screeching in a cave, the sound would echo and magnify, becoming louder than necessary. Incredulous is how everyone ends up feeling when the detective actually says something intelligent; completely surprised. And Decapitate is my favorite word, the one I want to practice on with the oaf; to hack off ones head._

Hiei grinned at the image that went through his head and then frowned. This class had just started and yet he was already bored. He didn't want to stay here in Kurama's pocket the entire time, doing absolutely nothing. He needed a distraction. He needed entertainment. He needed to get out of here.

Hiei glanced around at all of the other students and then up at Kurama, noticed that he was being ignored, and then slowly slipped out of the pocket and landed silently on the ground. Quietly, he slipped under Kurama's desk and scurried across the back of the room to the door. Using all of his training in stealth, he quickly and quietly eased the door open enough for him to squeeze through.

After stepping out of the classroom, Hiei crept through the halls, determined to find something to entertain himself with while the halls were his. As he wandered, he suddenly heard shouting coming from behind one of the doors, followed closely by a very foul odor. Scrunching up his nose, Hiei crept to the door and quietly slid it open. What he saw reminded him of the time Kurama had taken him to the place where they kept wild animals in cages while humans gawked at them mindlessly. _A zoo, if I remember correctly._ He thought. There were rows of long black tables with many glass tubs and cups, along with a weird looking sink in the center of each table.

Students were running all over the place, seeming to be trying to get as far away from one of the tables as possible. A tall, balding man that Hiei assumed was the teacher was trying desperately to get their attention while trying to control the situation. Upon further observation, Hiei realized that the foul odor he smelled was coming from the table everyone was trying to avoid. One of the glass cups (beakers) had broken and the liquid had spilled all over the surface of the table and was dripping to the floor. Scrunching his nose again in distaste, Hiei turned and exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

Out in the hall again, Hiei walked a ways away from the room and took several deep breaths of cleaner air, trying to get rid of the putrid stench that lingered in his nostrils. As he walked, he suddenly spotted a large rectangle shaped thing standing vertically against a wall. It reminded him of Kurama's '_rafergilator_' or whatever he called it, except this one was black and had a picture of an aluminum can that said Cola on it. Hiei scanned the machine, trying to find a way to get one of the drinks. Kurama had told him about these things. You were supposed to put money into the machine and push the button of whichever drink you wanted and it would give it to you. Unfortunately, Hiei didn't have any money, and even if he did, it probably would have shrunk too and he doubted the machine would take it.

Before he could figure out a way to get the drink, he heard voices coming from down the hall. _Damn._ He thought. Quickly he ran to the machine and jumped into the pocket that the drinks appeared in after they were paid for. Hiei scooted back as far as he could go to avoid being seen as the voices grew louder. He searched around him, trying to find another place he could slip in and spotted a long narrow hole above his head. Without thinking, Hiei jumped up and hauled himself into the hole, only to find himself facing row after row of aluminum Cola cans.

"Hey, I want a soda." Hiei heard one voice say, a boy's voice. Hiei smirked, an idea suddenly coming to his head. Quickly he climbed up onto the first row of cans and pulled the tab of the first one until he heard a soft click as the can opened. His smirk grew wider as he opened the next can and the next. "I think I'll go for an orange."

Hiei climbed up to where the orange cans were and quickly opened the tab to the first one, just as he heard the clinking of change being inserted into the machine. A whirring noise was heard as the can started sliding to the edge of its row. Hiei jumped to the next row as the can fell into the pocket with a wet _clunk_.

Suddenly there was a shout and a girl's scream from the other side of the machine, followed by an angrier shout from the boy. "What the heck, man?!" he shouted. A thud was heard above Hiei's head and he figured the boy had thumped his fist against the machine. He heard the clinking again as more change was put into the machine. Hiei opened the next orange can as it started to slide off its row. It landed in the pocket with another, wetter _clunk_ and more shouting was heard. "Damnit!"

"Stop it!" Hiei heard the girl cry. "Just forget it, I'm getting wet."

"This machine is rigged." The boy said. "Both of these cans were open." There was another thump from the boy's fist. "Come on, let's get out of here. I need to wash this stuff off before it gets all sticky."

Hiei heard the two walk away before climbing down into the pocket, avoiding the spilled soda, and watching the couple head down the hall, the girl trying to wipe at her skirt. Smirking, Hiei climbed back into the machine and continued opening the rest of the sodas. Why leave a job half finished? Finally satisfied, Hiei crawled back down to the pocket and out of the machine, landing on the ground and dusting off his clothes with a smirk. He was sure this machine would be entertaining for a while until someone caught on and decided to get someone to check the cans. But he didn't feel like waiting for someone to come.

Instead Hiei continued down the hall until he got to a room full of what sounded like students dying. Thinking that a demon had entered the school and was slaughtering students, Hiei ran to the doors and pulled the doors open enough for him to slip through. He was surprised to see that all of the students were not dying as he had expected. Instead, they were all standing in rows, one behind the other, on strange looking steps, with papers held in front of them. Hiei turned to the front of the '_class_' and looked at another chalkboard, this one all green and saw the words _Choir 1: The first steps to magnificent singing._

'_Singing?!'_ he thought incredulously. _Are they kidding? They sound like they're being tortured or slaughtered._ Shaking his head in disgust, Hiei turned and started to leave the room when something caught his attention. Turning, he spotted several stacks of paper in the back of the room. Walking over to them, Hiei picked up one of the sheets and attempted to read it. On the sheet were weird symbols and lines, with words underneath which were oddly spaced. _No wonder they sing so terribly; they probably can't even read this crap. Stupid ningens._ Then an idea came to his mind. Smirking, Hiei grabbed a small pile of the papers from the stack and snuck out of the room and across the hall to one of the windows. Quickly, he jumped up onto the window ledge, slid open the window, and tossed out the sheets of paper, watching them flutter in the wind on their way down.

Turning, Hiei jumped down and headed into the room and continued to take the papers out to the hall and toss them out the window. As he finished with the last stack, the ringing from earlier sounded from somewhere above him. Cursing silently, Hiei jumped down and ran up to two pairs of double doors. Hiei looked at the first pair of doors and noticed what looked like a person with a rectangle body, and then he looked at the second pair of doors and saw another person with a triangle shaped body.

"What the hell is this supposed to mean?" he demanded. Suddenly he heard children's voices coming from down the halls. "Damn." Quickly he scurried through the doors with the triangle bodied person on it and paused. In this room were long and large metal slabs protruding from one wall with weird looking white bowls between each slab of metal and smaller bowls hanging half way up another wall with mirrors above them. Before Hiei could ponder this much further, he was forced to hide behind a trash can as a group of girls entered the room.

"So then I went into my sister's room to see if she knew where it was, and she was wearing it." One girl said. The group of girls stopped in front of the mirrors. "Can you believe her? She was wearing my brand new skirt."

"That's terrible." Another girl said.

"If I were you, I'd have her arrested for theft." A third girl said.

"I would but she's my sister and for some reason, my parents want to keep her." The first girl said.

"Younger siblings are such a pain." The second girl said.

"My younger sister is always borrowing my makeup. It's so irritating." A fourth girl said.

"Mine is always trying to read my diary." Third girl.

"We better go or else we'll get another detention for being late." Said the first girl.

Hiei waited until the girls had left the room before emerging from behind the trash can. There was nothing more annoying to him than human girls. _Are they really that shallow?_ Hiei thought. He waited a few moments longer until the bell rang again, signaling the start of the next class before Hiei headed to the door. Before leaving, however, he decided now would be the perfect time to pull another prank.

Smirking, Hiei went to the row of small bowls, which he determined were sinks, and grabbed one of the metal pipes protruding out of the wall underneath. Sending a bit of his energy into his hand, the metal started to slowly turn red with heat before melting completely. Immediately, water started spraying out of the pipe in a gush. He repeated this action with every pipe under every sink before heading out of the bathroom. "That should give the ningens some entertainment." He mumbled maliciously.

Hiei left the room, which he decided was a bathroom of some sort, and headed down the halls, ignoring any rooms that seemed boring, until he came to a room with large double doors with the words GYM painted in black on each door. _Gym._ Hiei thought. _Yusuke said this was the exercising type of class. Let's see how these humans 'exercise'._ Hiei pushed the doors open, he was surprised he actually had to put effort into it, and slipped in. Inside, he saw students jogging in a large circle around the room, all of them wearing the same looking clothes.

As he watched, a man and a woman stood in the middle of the room, both of them wearing a silver whistle and sweatshirts with the name of the school across the chest. The man was currently blowing the whistle and shouting at the boys, and the woman was shouting at the girls.

Hiei rolled his eyes. _This is pathetic._ Hiei thought exasperatedly. _I'll show these humans how to exercise. _Quickly Hiei ran to the back of the gym, where there was a rack full of long metal sticks hanging from each hook. The metal stick started out thick and then narrowed as it went down, stopping at the end with another thicker piece. Next to the rack was a small bucket filled with small white balls lined with red stitches.

_Hmm._ Hiei placed his hand on one of the metal sticks and sent his energy into his hand until heat started seeping into the metal stick. It glowed a bright red and Hiei removed his hand with a satisfied nod and moved on to the next one and the next one until each stick was glowing a bright red. Then Hiei scurried back to the front of the gym as the students stopped running and began to form in a large mob around the two teachers. Hiei stood against one of the doors and watched as the teachers explained, animatedly, whatever they were to do today. Then the students ran to the back of the gym and up to the rack of metal sticks and started grabbing them. Several students shrieked in pain as they were forced to drop the red hot metal sticks and clutch their burning hands.

Hiei smirked and shook his head before heading out of the gym and down the hall. As he walked, he started to think about heading back to Kurama's classroom when he realized that the first class was over already and he didn't remember what Kurama said his next class was. _Now what am I supposed to do?_ He thought with frustration.

_Perhaps you could stop pestering the students and listen to me when I tell you to stay in my pocket._

Hiei's eyes widened and he stopped, spinning in place, searching for the owner of the voice that invaded his head. Kurama stepped out from around the corner and faced him, his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face. "What have you been doing?" he asked softly, accusingly. "I have been looking all over for you, ever since the end of class and I found you missing. I told you not to leave my pocket."

"No, you told me to stay put and keep quiet and out of sight." Hiei retorted.

"Same thing." Kurama snapped. He sighed. "Just get over here. We have to get back to class."

Hiei rolled his eyes and walked over to Kurama, who picked him up and placed him back in his pocket. "Like I said before, 'Don't get used to this'."

"Of course not." Kurama said. After a pause, he asked, "So what _have_ you been doing?"

Hiei smirked from inside the pocket. "Humans children seem to be extremely fond of gossip, fox. I'm sure you'll hear all about it before the day is even half over."

Kurama sighed again. "Yes, I'm sure I will."

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**A/N: well here is the chapter I promised. Its not as long as I wanted it to be but I ran out of ideas. Sorry it wasn't posted when I promised, but like I said, I ran out of ideas. I will now focus on the next chapter of my other story and when I finish that chapter, I will write the next one of this story. Please bear with me until then. Don't forget to review.**


	11. The Gossip of the Day

**A/N: hey everyone. Once again, just want to say thanks for coming back and no, I haven't forgotten this. As promised, I am updating more often on this story. It's almost finished but for now I am going to make this chapter shorter than usual because I want to make the meeting with Koenma it's own chapter. So here is this chapter. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Eleven: The Gossip of the Day**

The rest of the day passed aggravatingly slow for Hiei. As promised, he spent the rest of the morning in Kurama's pocket, staying out of sight and away from the other students. Kurama entered the gym for his fourth class and paused when he saw several small groups of students clustered around the gym, all of them whispering excitedly.

"Hey, Kurama!" a voice shouted from his right.

Kurama turned to see Yusuke waving to him as he approached. "Hello, Yusuke. What's going on?"

"Didn't you hear?" Yusuke asked as he stepped up beside him. "Someone has been causing chaos. Well, more than usual, anyway. And it's not me!" he shouted to several of the groups behind him. Some of the groups paused and stared at him skeptically before turning back around and continuing their conversations. Yusuke turned back to Kurama and scowled. "So, what did Hiei do?"

"What makes you think I did anything?" Hiei asked from inside the pocket.

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Oh, gee, I don't know. Maybe it was the story of the extremely hot baseball bats. Or the metal pipes in the girls' bathroom that melted and is now spraying water all over the place. Or better yet, it could be the fact that every single soda in the vending machine was open. Other than that, I have no idea."

Kurama sighed and glared down at his pocket. "Figures."

"Hn, you missed one detective." Hiei said, popping his head out of the pocket and smirking. "You forgot about the papers flying out of the window."

"Papers?" Kurama asked.

"Oh, yeah." Yusuke said. "The music sheets from the choir room were found all over the place outside. I guess throwing them out the window would be a good way for that to happen."

"Well, it's not like that was unjustified." Hiei said defensively. "If they call that garbage 'singing', then it looks like we found a new torture method."

"Hiei, you can't go around doing things like that." Kurama whispered. "You could get in a lot of trouble. Or we could. The last thing we need is to draw attention to ourselves. Didn't I just finish telling you guys that?"

"Whatever, it doesn't matter now. It's over with." Hiei said.

"Not likely." Yusuke said. "This will be the talk of the school for quite a while."

"Then these humans are more idiotic than I thought." Hiei muttered.

Suddenly a whistle was heard and Kurama and Yusuke turned to the gym instructor, Hiei ducking back into the pocket. "Alright, everyone. Front and center! Move it!"

Everyone bunched together and waited for the teacher to begin. "First I want to see Shuichi Minamino. Where are you, Minamino?"

Kurama stepped forward. "Here, sir." He said.

The teacher looked him up and down. "How were you in your other school? What was the last thing you did?"

"The last thing we did was an obstacle course sort of thing." Kurama responded.

"Right, well, today we're going to be doing a physical fitness test." The teacher said. The other students groaned. "Shut up!" the teacher snapped. "You guys are way too lazy. Besides, you can thank whoever messed up the baseball bats, because that was what we were originally going to do but thanks to whoever that was, that will not be possible."

Yusuke glared at Kurama's pocket, where a small chuckle could only be heard by him and Kurama. "Damn it, Hiei." He muttered under his breath.

"Now get going." The teacher commanded. "Go change and meet back out here in ten minutes. One point docked for every minute you're late."

Everyone rushed to the locker rooms to change, most of them still grumbling. "You don't have a gym uniform yet, huh?" Yusuke asked.

Kurama shook his head and pulled out a piece of paper from the pocket Hiei wasn't in. "No, but I have a note from the guidance counselor explaining it and excusing me for today. I will be picking it up after school."

"Lucky." Yusuke said. "I don't get why we have to change in the first place. Why can't we just stay in our regular clothes?"

Kurama shrugged. "Don't ask me."

After they had finished dressing into their gym clothes, everyone headed back into the gym. "Now." Said the coach. "Everyone get into pairs. You and your partner are going to be recording each other's times, counts and heart rate. Now hurry up and get into pairs."

Yusuke glanced at Kurama. "Partners?" he asked.

"Sure." Kurama granted.

"Right." The coach said once everyone was in pairs. "One person from each pair come and get a clipboard, a recording sheet and a timer. Move it!"

"I'll get them." Kurama said.

After Kurama returned with the items that they needed and the coach had released them, the two of them moved to a small corner of the gym, away from the other students and any unwanted eavesdroppers. "So, do you want to go first or should I?" Yusuke asked.

"You can go first." Kurama said.

"So, what are we going to do about this?" Yusuke asked as he got down onto his back to begin sit-ups.

Kurama sat down next to him and began timing the sit-ups. "I'm not sure yet. Hopefully we won't have to do anything at all. After we speak with You-Know-Who, we should be able to decide what to do about how to change Hiei back."

"Well, yeah, that's great but I was actually talking about what Hiei did to the school." Yusuke said, pausing in his sit-ups to gesture at Kurama's pocket. "Like I said before, people aren't going to let this go unless something even bigger happens."

"Bigger?" Hiei said from the pocket.

"No, Hiei." Kurama said, marking down Yusuke's time and amount of sit-ups when he finished.

"No, what?" Hiei asked.

"Don't get any ideas. No drawing attention, remember?" Kurama said.

"You worry too much, fox." Hiei said.

"Well, I have to be the worrier since no one else will. So I'm warning you anyways." Kurama said. "And don't call me fox."

* * *

After their gym class ended and Yusuke changed back into his street clothes, Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara and Keiko sat on the roof of the school, eating lunch and talking to each other about what to speak to Koenma about.

"Well, I think the first thing we should think about is finding a way to change Hiei back." Kurama said. "Once we do that, we can focus on finding the one who changed him in the first place."

"Well, actually. Doesn't this sort of help?" Keiko asked. Yusuke had filled her in on what had happened after they had left Koenma's office the day before yesterday, leading up to the part where they saved Hiei from the clutches of the little girl. He generously left out the part about the dress and other humiliating things that Hiei would no doubt kill him for mentioning.

"What do you mean 'help'?" Hiei snapped, glaring at her from his seat on Kurama's knee. He gestured to himself. "How the hell does _**this **_help?"

"Well, what I mean is, since we know this demon turns its victims into dolls, we can use this information to help find him." Keiko clarified. "And also, since Hiei is back with us and knows what this demon looks like and how he acts, it will help us identify him if he decides to walk around town in disguise. It would be a lot more useful than trying to find someone when you don't know what they look like."

Kurama looked at her in mild surprise. "She has a point." He said. "After we speak to Koenma and get Hiei changed back, Hiei can take us to where he was captured and we can go from there. We can search for clues in the area that the demon left behind."

Kuwabara, who had been looking puzzled for a while now, finally spoke up. "But what if this is his plan?"

The others looked at him questioningly. "What do you mean?" Botan asked.

"Well, what I mean is that this guy captures Hiei, turns him into a doll, builds a doll house and puts him in it, and then sells it. Wouldn't it be better if he kept them all so that he can keep an eye on them? But if it was his intention for the dolls to be found, then he's not going to care if one or two of his dolls disappears or gets found. Maybe he's smarter than we think and he just doesn't care." Kuwabara finished explaining and then blushed when the others continued to stare at him in shocked silence. "T-that's just my guess."

"The oaf finally said something intelligent." Hiei smirked. "Hell must have frozen over."

"Hey!" Kuwabara snapped.

Kurama jumped in before they could start fighting. "Kuwabara may be right. If his theory turns out to be true, then this demon will be a lot harder to catch than we first thought. We should make sure not to underestimate him, just in case. This should be something we speak to Koenma about as well." The others agreed.

"It's settled then." Yusuke said as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Everyone stood and gathered their things. "We speak to Koenma about changing Hiei back. Then Hiei explains what he just told us about what happened to him after he was changed. Then we tell Koenma about our theories. And after that, we go search for this doll-making demon and kick some ass."

Everyone agreed and headed back inside the school. Hiei ducked back into Kurama's pocket and Botan manifested her oar and flew back to Spirit World. The rest of the day passed achingly slow and without much incident. Kuwabara and Yusuke had gotten called into the office half way through their last class, most likely because of the suspicions of them being the ones who caused all of the incidents that had happened. Kurama and Hiei were surprised to learn that Hiei was a quick learner when it came to Spanish. By the end of the class, he had already learned how to greet, say what he liked, wanted, needed, had, and hated. Somehow he also learned how to say 'go to hell' and 'you're dead'.

"See, Hiei." Kurama said as he exited the school grounds and headed for the line of trees across the street that started the woods. They had agreed earlier to meet there after school. "If you actually gave it a chance, you might find that you would actually like school."

"Hn, I doubt it, fox." Hiei muttered.

Kurama smiled but didn't say anything. As they waited under the trees, Kurama tried to get Hiei to admit to anything about school that he actually enjoyed and coax him into enrolling when this mission was over with. Hiei refused. Finally, Yusuke and Kuwabara showed up. "Ready?" Kurama asked them. Yusuke and Kuwabara nodded. "Then let's go."

The three of them entered the forest, Hiei riding on Kurama's shoulder, and walked until they reached a clearing, where Botan waited next to a shimmering part of the air, which was their portal into the Spirit World. "Everyone ready?" she asked when they stopped in front of her.

"Ready as we'll ever be." Yusuke said.

"Right, then. To Spirit World!" Botan shouted. To anyone passing by, they would have seen four teenagers randomly disappear into thin air.

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**A/N: Well, how did you like it? I know it was a bit slow and short. This wasn't exactly my favorite chapter. But I had to get the rest of the school day over with so that we can get to Koenma. Once we do, the story should get better. Just warning though. I'm not really good with investigations and stuff. But I'll try my best. Don't forget to review!**


	12. Hunting

**A/N: Chapter twelve is here! Right on time! Sort of. This chapter was actually finished on Thursday but I couldn't get to the internet until today. Sorry. But the good news is that the next chapter after this one is finished and the last chapter is almost done. We're getting close, readers! But for now we need to worry about finding the demon douche that turned Hiei into a doll and making him pay for his hilarious, yet heinous crime. If not but for Hiei's sake. Poor Hiei. Why must we torment him so? Anyway, read and review please!**

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**Chapter Twelve: Hunting**

"It's about time you got here." Koenma said when the Tentei arrived. Kurama stood leaning against the wall nearest the doors, Hiei still on his shoulder, and Kuwabara and Yusuke stood in the center of the room. Botan walked up and stood beside the young godling. "I was starting to wonder if you were going to go hunting the demon first before coming here."

"Well, we would have except we don't know anything about this demon." Yusuke answered. "Plus, we need to change Hiei back first. Then we can work on finding this guy."

Koenma nodded. "A wise decision. However, I'm not entirely sure I can change him back." He said thoughtfully. "We don't even know who this demon is, so we have no idea how he turned Hiei into a doll in the first place and therefore have no way of knowing if it will actually work or if there even is a way to turn him back."

"There's no way to turn him back?!" Yusuke exclaimed, only hearing the last thing Koenma said. "You mean he's stuck like this forever?"

"That was not what I said." Koenma replied. "I said there's a chance that he can't be changed back only because we don't know who this demon is. Before we try anything, why don't you all tell me what you've found out about this demon. Then maybe we'll have a better chance of figuring out who he is and then find out how to change him back. There's no point in taking unnecessary actions."

"I agree." Kurama nodded. "There's no point in risking it. Hiei is here, even though he's like this, and he's alive. At the moment, that's most important. So, I think we have a bit of time to think this through carefully before declaring any rash actions."

"So," Koenma said, turning to glance at Hiei expectantly. "Why don't you start with what happened after you left my office in a fit of rage because of Kuwabara and whatever other thing that usually gets you moody?"

Hiei glared at Koenma before beginning his explanation, starting with the feeling he got in the woods and ending with waking up in the morning and realizing that he was able to move and speak again. "And now I'm here explaining everything to you, who should already know about this, and delaying any further actions to fix me." He finished.

"Hm." Koenma murmured, staring at Hiei thoughtfully. "Ogre." He said suddenly.

A tall light blue ogre wearing a loincloth stepped up beside him. "Yes, sir?"

"Bring me that book we were looking at earlier. The one with the weird clock on the first page." Koenma ordered.

"Yes, Koenma, sir." The ogre said as he hurried out the large double doors. They waited in silence until he returned, carrying a large, dark red leather bound book with a gold trim. The book was old, with the leather peeling and the brittle, fragile pages coming loose. "Here you are, sir."

Koenma placed the book on the desk in front of him and started leafing through the pages, absently catching any pages that started to fall out and replacing them. Finally he stopped at a page near the middle of the book. "Ah, here we are." He picked up the book and turned it to the room at large. "Is this the one that attacked you?"

"That's him!" Shouted both Hiei and Kuwabara in unison when they saw the picture. A demon dressed in a red suite with purple hair and orange skin stood in the center of the page, a long black cane in his hand and a sinister sneer stretched on his snake-like face.

"Who the hell is he?" Hiei snapped, glaring at Kuwabara out of the corner of his eye. He hadn't quite forgiven him for not getting him out of the doll house before the girl had taken him home.

"His name is unknown but he calls himself Mannequin. I'm sure you can guess why." Koenma turned the book back toward himself. "According to this, changing people into dolls wasn't his original power. He actually had several different powers, such as being able to shrink people as well as being able to make them immobile and silenced. He can also create small force fields. They're not that strong, but putting them on a dollhouse is more than strong enough to keep anything in or out."

"So, he created a way to combine the different powers on one single thing that could become extremely useful once completed." Kurama confirmed. "Interesting." Hiei glared at him and yanked on one of the strands of hair that hung over Kurama's shoulder. "Ow. I mean, that's terrible."

"He didn't have a cane, though." Hiei said, still glaring at Kurama. He looked at Koenma and gestured to the book. "The picture shows him with a black cane. He didn't have one with him that I saw."

"Hm, that is unusual." Koenma said thoughtfully as he surveyed the picture and text. "It says here that the cane is the source of most of his powers. There is a blood-red jewel at the top of the cane, inside a gold dollhouse, that he made himself; you can see it through the windows and the door. When he turns someone into a doll, that jewel is what keeps them that way. The cane will glow a bright red color, along with whoever was turned into a doll and the dollhouse, which he also makes himself so that he can install the force field. The force field dies once the house is no longer in his possession but in order to change the victims back to their original form, the jewel must be broken."

"But if he didn't have the cane on him, then where was it?" Yusuke asked.

"Hang on." Koenma quickly scanned the page. "It says here that he must keep the jewel close by at all times, otherwise his magic will start to weaken on his victims the further away he is from it. If it's not on his person, then he must have hidden it somewhere close enough to keep his magic strong but safe enough so that no one can find it."

"Does it say how far he can be separated from it?" Kurama asked.

"I can't tell." Koenma replied, squinting closely at the bottom of the page. "The pages are worn and old. The text is extremely faded. But it looks like a five, though it could be a six or an eight. And then it looks like it says 'meters' but I'm not a hundred percent sure. I honestly can't tell. I can, however, say that it is in the single digits. Like I said, wherever he keeps it, it can't be too far from him."

"Hang on." Kurama said thoughtfully. "If he's got to have the jewel so close to himself at all times and he was in the woods when he was with Hiei, and lets say that the page says 5 meters, then that would mean that the jewel was five meters, or about fifteen feet or so, from wherever he was standing. So we should find out where he was when he was with Hiei, and use that to estimate how far the jewel was and hopefully when we find the place it was in, we can use anything we find there to help track him down."

"Huh?" Yusuke asked in confusion.

"My brain hurts." Kuwabara groaned, clutching at the sides of his head.

"Just trust me." Kurama said exasperatedly.

"Sure." Yusuke said. "So what do we do now?"

"Now, we go find this Mannequin demon and find the cane." Kurama said. "Once we find the cane and smash the jewel, we can turn Hiei back to normal."

Koenma nodded. "Right. I would give you this book to take with you for help but it's so old that I'm afraid it will get more damaged than it already is. And my father will be furious if I let it out of the palace in this condition. Though he'd probably be angry anyway at me for letting it get this bad in the first place."

"Don't worry, I think we have all the information we need." Kurama said. He turned and headed towards the door. "We shall return shortly. Would you like us to bring anything back?"

Koenma nodded. "The cane and whatever's left of the jewel if you can. Although, be prepared for some chaos when this is over. If people were turned into dolls and sold, there's going to be a catastrophe when you break the jewel and they all return to normal."

"Right." Yusuke said as he and Kuwabara followed Kurama out the door. "We'll remember that."

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The Tentei stumbled through the woods as they followed Hiei's directions toward where he had first felt the odd feeling. "It was just up ahead." Hiei said, pointing a few yards in front of them. A rather large tree could be seen in the distance, apparently in the direction Hiei was herding them in. "I was in that tree over there when I first felt the demon's presence."

They approached the tree and looked around. "Which way did you go?" Kurama asked, sending his energy out in the hopes of sensing something unfamiliar.

Hiei gazed around for a moment before pointing to their left, almost in the same direction they had just come but slightly to the right. "I headed that way. I felt several different feelings, like blood lust and mischief. It was faint but I still felt it. I was still extremely irritated, so I decided to follow it in the hopes of using it as something to take my frustration out on."

They quickly headed in the direction Hiei pointed in, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Suddenly Kurama paused, holding up a finger. "Hang on." He said, growing still and searching with his eyes. The others stopped and listened, tensing in preparation for a fight.

"What is it?" Yusuke whispered, searching rapidly with his eyes, fists poised.

"Do you feel it?" Kurama asked, still unmoving.

"Yes." Hiei replied softly, turning his head up to gaze at the tree tops.

"I don't feel anything." Kuwabara whispered in confusion.

"Exactly." Hiei replied.

"Huh?" Kuwabara asked. "What do you mean?"

"There's nothing here." Hiei clarified. "No animals. It's completely silent. Do you hear any birds or rodents?"

They all listened. "You're right." Yusuke said, his voice sounding eerily loud in the sudden silence. "There's nothing. It's like all of them decided to just leave."

"Either that, or they were forced to leave." Kuwabara said. "Like if they thought it was too dangerous to be here any longer. Maybe the Mannequin guy chased them out."

"Animals can be extremely intelligent when it comes to survival instinct." Kurama agreed. "When there's a fire, they all head in the direction that the smoke is not in. When there's a storm, birds fly in huge masses to get to shelter before the winds blow them out of the sky. They know when danger comes before we do."

"We should get moving." Hiei urged. "Either we're getting close to where the demon is or to where the jewel is. Or where either of them **was**. And we're getting close to where I fell into that hole."

"Like Alice and the white rabbit." Kurama bemused.

"The what?" Hiei asked.

"Haven't you ever heard of Alice in Wonderland?" Kurama asked in amusement. "It's about a human girl named Alice who follows a white rabbit into a rabbit hole that actually takes her to a place called Wonderland, where she meets all sorts of unusual things. Like a doorknob that talks, and talking flowers, and bottles that say 'drink me' that either make you extremely big or extremely small, and a cat called the Cheshire Cat, who speaks in riddles and is extremely unhelpful. And the Mad Hater and the March Hare and their unbirthday party. And let's not forget the Queen of Hearts. She wanted to kill Alice because Alice painted all of the queens white roses red."

"That's stupid." Hiei commented. "What kind of garbage is that?"

"It's a human fairytale, Hiei." Kurama said. "It's supposed to be very popular to most children."

"It's still stupid." Hiei said. "Stop!" he said suddenly. Everyone paused. "We're here."

They scanned the clearing they had stopped in; it was rather large, as if a giant round pool had been moved recently, leaving behind a large circular, uneven patch of grass where it had been. Trees surrounded the clearing in a tight ring, all of them blowing silently in the wind. Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara spread out around the edge of the clearing, examining the grass and the trees and the rocks and anything else that looked different from the rest of the clearing.

"I can't find anything." Yusuke called after several more minutes of searching.

"Maybe because there's nothing to find." Someone called back. "Have you tried the center of the clearing?"

"Why would I go in the clearing when there's a psycho demon on the loose that could have used it as a trap- hey!" Yusuke looked up as a red flash zoomed past him into the clearing. The others stopped and turned to the demon standing in the center of the circular clearing, grinning at them in amusement.

"I was wondering when you'd come." The demon cackled. He turned his grinning head in Hiei's direction, his grin widening, showing all of his sharp white teeth. "Sleeping Beauty returns. What happened? Not the right dollhouse? Perhaps you'd like another."

"Change me back!" Hiei yelled, ignoring the demon's attempt to bait him.

"No, I don't think I will." The demon said, pretending to sound thoughtful. "I rather like you this way."

"Then we'll just have to make you." Yusuke threatened.

"Good luck." The demon said, cackling loudly as he spun around and bounded into the shelter of the trees.

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**A/N: ****So, what did you guys think? Getting interesting, no? Looks like a game of cat and mouse. More like three dogs chasing a cat with a mouse on one of the dogs' shoulder. *cough* Hiei *cough* Things are about to get a bit more interesting. Especially when they underestimate the demon and… oh, wait. You haven't read that far, huh? Oops, never mind.**

**And no, I did not base any of this on Alice in Wonderland, in case you're wondering. I just thought of the comparisons as I was writing that part. Now that I think about it, it does seem to coincide with that story pretty well.**

**This story is almost over, readers. About two chapters left. Why don't you guys just review for old time's sake, huh? Thanks for reading and sticking with me. Like I said, the next chapter is already written and will be posted as soon as I finish the next chapter of The Worst Case, so you won't have to wait too long. Have fun.**


	13. Time To Play

**A/N: ****Hey everyone. See, that wasn't long of a wait, now was it? And guess what… guess… okay, I'll say it. This is the second to last chapter of the story that captured so many readers' attentions. Yay! Or nay, up to you. But we're almost finished! Thanks for sticking with me!**

**Warning: ****This chapter is going to be pretty long, so bear with me once again. Thanks and enjoy!**

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**Chapter Thirteen: Time to Play**

Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara bounded through the trees, chasing after the demon as he leaped from rock to tree to rock again, cackling at the top of his lungs in the process. "You children will never catch me!" he cackled. "No one has ever been able to catch me!"

"Until now!" Yusuke hollered. "You're going down, freak!"

The demon cackled again and suddenly stopped and spun around to face them. "Going down, you say?" he taunted. "As you wish." The demon raised his right hand into the air above his head, and just when the three of them landed on the ground at the same time, the demon snapped his fingers.

The ground instantly began to crumble, giving way underneath them and sending them plummeting into the earth. As they dropped, the air around them suddenly began to thicken, making them feel as if the air was being squeezed out of their lungs and a great invisible weight was pressing in on them from all sides. The air continued to thicken and darkness began to creep into the corners of their eyes before they lost consciousness all together before they even reached the ground…

* * *

Kurama groaned as he sat up, placing his hand against his temple in an attempt to stop the pain. His head felt as if he had landed on it, which he must have if the throbbing was anything to go by. He gently placed his fingers against the tender flesh and brought them down in front of him. Not seeing any blood, he inwardly sighed in relief and gazed around at his surroundings.

The first thing he noticed was that he was alone. No, not alone. Hiei lay face up on the ground a little to his right and when Kurama crawled over to him, he noticed the gentle rising and falling of his chest, which told him that Hiei was alive. "Hiei." Kurama whispered, gently shaking the mini fire demon. Hiei stirred before opening his crimson eyes and blinking up at him. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern.

Hiei sat up and nodded. "Yeah. Where are we?" he asked.

"I was hoping you would be able to tell me." Kurama said, looking around them again. "I don't recognize this place."

Hiei gazed around them, noticing the bare brown walls and floor and groaned. "Not again." He mumbled.

"I take it you do know where we are." Kurama assumed.

"We're right back where we started." Hiei grumbled. "This is the underground tunnel I fell into before I turned into a doll."

"So, he's planning on turning us into dolls?" Kurama speculated.

Hiei shrugged. "I'm not sure. I know that when I first fell here, this place was all dirt and rocks, like it is now, and then it suddenly turned into a child's bedroom, filled with toys. And in the center of the room was a dollhouse with a room that looked exactly like the room I was standing in. Then a shadowy figure grabbed me and pushed me into the dollhouse and I blacked out. The next thing I knew, I was a doll."

Kurama looked around again. "Well, if that's the case, then we need to find Yusuke and Kuwabara before the demon ends up turning them into dolls as well." Kurama reached down and scooped Hiei into his hand and placed him back on his shoulder before rising and heading towards the archway leading out of their cave-like area. They headed down the tunnel, listening for any sounds that would indicate where Yusuke or Kuwabara were, or even where the demon was.

"They changed." Hiei said suddenly.

Kurama glanced up at him. "What?"

Hiei pointed to the walls and the ceiling and the ground. "They changed. It's not dirt anymore."

He was right. Where the dirt and rocks used to be, there was now solid grey stone, as grey as charcoal, surrounding them in a tomb-like fashion. Kurama turned around and noticed that the dirt suddenly stopped and the stone started where it left off, as though the tunnel had yet to be completed. He turned back around and gave a start when they now faced two separate paths instead of the single path they had started with. "Looks like we're being played with." Kurama observed.

"Looks that way." Hiei replied.

"Yes, it quite does, doesn't it?" said a snake-like voice from behind them.

Kurama whirled around to face the demon as he pirouetted away with a chuckle. "Where are our friends?" Kurama demanded. "Release us."

"No thanks." The demon responded, ignoring Kurama's first question and pretending to examine his claw-like nails. "I have a few new toys I want to try out and you children are the perfect specimens to try them out on."

"What toys?" Kurama asked, not liking where this was going.

The demon grinned at them and pointed behind himself. "Toys like that."

Hiei and Kurama glanced over the demon's shoulder in time to see a large black metal ball-and-chain bouncing towards them, a slit opening on the side facing them and revealing a bright pink tongue behind two long rows of sharp white teeth. A large chain trailed noisily behind it, slamming into the ground and walls as it bounced, creating the metal against stone sound. The ground began to shake like a massive earthquake as the ball bounded closer and closer. Kurama noticed large white and black eyes on either side of the ball and Kurama knew what it was.

"I'm sure you recognize Chain Chomp from the American video game, Super Mario. I believe he is referred to as Wanwan here." The demon teased. "He's been chained up for so long now, with people running from him in fear, so I'm sure he's just dying to meet some new people." The demon cackled again and ran past them, disappearing into the tunnel as Wanwan grew closer.

Kurama cursed and ran down the tunnel in the direction the demon had gone, rapidly trying to remember how Wanwan was defeated in the game. "Why are you running?" Hiei demanded in outrage, turning in his seat on Kurama's shoulder and glaring at Wanwan. "Stand and fight."

"We can't." Kurama replied with a gasp as he continued to run. It was a difficult task to accomplish when the ground beneath you shook with the force to knock even the most skilled gymnast off their feet. "If the demon brought to life all of the traits of Wanwan, which I'm assuming he did, then there is no way to defeat it. We have to try to get away from it. Or try to lose it."

"What do you mean 'there's no way to defeat it'?" Hiei demanded. "What the hell's a Wanwan?"

"Haven't you ever played Super Mario?" Kurama asked, taking a sudden left turn and continuing down the tunnel, Wanwan hot on their heels. "It's a classic video game created years ago. Wanwan was a character in the game; a ball-and-chain character that tried to attack anyone who passed it. Except in the game, it was always chained to something and couldn't get far. People usually just went around it when they got near it."

"So then what are we supposed to do?" Hiei demanded. "We can't keep running."

"We?" Kurama asked sarcastically. "What do you mean 'we'? I'm the one doing all the running."

"You know what I mean!" Hiei snapped. "If the Wanwan-thing was chained to something in the game, then that must be the way to defeat it. We have to chain it to something."

Kurama's eyes widened. "You're right. But how? Think, Kurama, think."

"Well, think of something fast, because it's gaining." Hiei yelled, glancing behind them at Wanwan as it bounded closer towards them.

**

* * *

**

Yusuke searched through the tunnels, trying to find a way out, when someone shoved him from behind, sending him sprawling on the stone floor. "Hey, what the hell?" he yelled, turning around and glaring at the demon that stood behind him. He quickly jumped up and faced him. "Where is everyone? What did you do with them? And where are we?"

The demon chuckled evilly. "I think you should worry about yourself, first." He said. "After all, it's not every day that you get to play with life sized army men."

"Huh?" Yusuke asked. "What are you talking about?"

Before the demon could reply, a sound that sounded like several pairs of feet marching toward them in a rhythmic fashion could be heard from within the darkness of the tunnel Yusuke had just come from. The demon shoved Yusuke roughly back to the ground. "You're it." He sang. "Try to catch **me** before the **army** catches **you**." Then he turned and bolted down the tunnel, cackling along the way.

"Damn!" Yusuke muttered as he stood and faced the army of green soldiers. He aimed his spirit gun at the center of the group and fired. Several of the army men burst into hundreds of plastic green pieces. "Ha!" he shouted triumphantly. His grin faded as the army men in front stopped and knelt down on one knee, aiming their rifles at him. "Oh, shit!" he cried, and ran down the tunnel as he dodged the plastic bullets. Even though they were plastic, they still hurt like hell.

"I'm going to get you for this!" Yusuke shouted as he ran down the tunnel.

* * *

Kuwabara ran down the tunnel as fast as his feet would carry him as a trail of red and yellow flames chased after him. "A dragon!" he exclaimed as he ran away from the flames. "Why did I have to get chased by a dragon? Hiei was bad enough."

The enormous jade-green dragon roared as he bounded down the tunnel after its runaway meal. Kuwabara made a sharp right, then took a sharp left and stopped at a dead end. "Oh, man! What do I do? What do I do?" he desperately searched for another way out and started to head back the way he came when he stopped, the dragon blocking his path. "I'm dead." He moaned, backing up against the stone wall. "Nothing I did worked. My sword didn't even scratch him. What else can I do?" Kuwabara inched back as the dragon arched back, preparing to breathe out a massive flame and fry his terrified victim. Kuwabara shut his eyes and prepared for the worst.

**

* * *

**

Kurama continued running down the tunnel, his lungs threatening to explode if they didn't get some relief soon as he continued to search for a way to chain Wanwan to something. Unfortunately there was nothing to chain it to; the walls of the tunnels were smooth and flat, not giving any indication that it could be used in the way that they needed. Kurama turned another corner and paused for a split second before continuing.

"Hey, where are you going?" Hiei demanded. "That's a dead end."

"I know." Kurama gasped. "I –_gasp - _have –_gasp_- a plan!"

Hiei turned back to see the Wanwan getting closer and closer with each bound, and then turned back to the solid stone wall ahead of them. "It better be good, fox!" Hiei yelled, tightening his hold on Kurama's shoulder in preparation for a collision.

"Trust me!" Kurama yelled.

"What the hell do you think I've been doing?" Hiei snapped.

Kurama put on a final burst of speed, heading straight for the wall and hoping that his plan would work. He wasn't sure what would happen if it didn't.

**

* * *

**

Yusuke charged down the tunnel at top speed, dodging bullets and bounding around corners. Each time he turned a corner, he ran a few feet and then whirled around and fired at the army men, destroying several of them before turning and running again as they returned fire. The army was slowly diminishing but there were still a lot of them left.

"Think, Yusuke." He mumbled to himself. Then an idea hit him. He turned another corner and ran a few feet before turning and firing another Spirit Gun at the ceiling just as the soldiers rounded the corner. Several stones crumbled and fell from the ceiling on top of the group of soldiers, blocking the path at the same time and preventing the other soldiers from reaching him. "Yes!" he cried. Then he turned and hurried on through the tunnels in search of the rest of his team.

**

* * *

**

Kuwabara prepared himself for the flames that would incinerate him, shutting his eyes tight and praying that it wouldn't be too long before death took him. Suddenly he froze, opening his eyes as the ground began to shake. He looked up at the dragon, which had also paused as the ground shook beneath it. Kuwabara heard a rumbling noise coming from behind the wall he was leaning against, and out of natural survival instincts, he quickly jumped to the side and threw himself as far into the corner of the ground as he could as the wall exploded, sending stones crashing all over him and the dragon.

Kuwabara peeked up over his arms as he heard a crash, the scrape of metal against stone, and a roar from the dragon before there was another, louder crash. More stones fell from the ceiling from the impact and Kuwabara was forced to place his arms back over his head in an attempt to shield himself from the falling debris. As the dust calmed and the tunnel became silent, Kuwabara looked up again to see a giant black ball connected to a large black chain lying on top of the unconscious dragon, debris scattered all around. "Whoa." He mumbled.

Kuwabara pushed himself into a sitting position and turned to survey the wreckage when he saw Kurama kneeling hunched over in a corner with his head down, his arms wrapped protectively around Hiei, holding his tiny body tightly against his chest. "Kurama! Hiei!" Kuwabara called, lurching to his feet and stumbling over the ruins to them.

Kurama straightened up, loosening his grip on Hiei and placing him gently on the ground. "Are you alright?" Kurama asked him.

"I'm fine." Hiei answered tersely. He raised an eyebrow. "You?"

Kurama nodded. "Fine."

"That was crazy!" Kuwabara exclaimed, coming to kneel beside them. "You guys okay?"

"We're fine." Kurama assured him. "Are you alright? You're covered in dust."

Kuwabara grinned. "Naw, I'm fine. It'll take a lot more than that to keep me down."

"Obviously." Hiei muttered with a roll of his crimson eyes.

Before Kuwabara could respond, there was a shout from behind them, causing them to turn around. "Whoa, what did you guys do?"

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelled. "Where've you been? I got chased by a dragon thanks to that stupid demon psycho. Then I got a wall exploding and the ceiling falling all over me."

"Yeah well I was busy being chased by a bunch of plastic green army men with plastic guns and plastic bullets that hurt as bad as real bullets." Yusuke replied, coming up beside them. He glanced down at Kurama and Hiei. "You guys have any fun?"

"Tons." Hiei replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes and climbing up onto Kurama's shoulder. "We better get moving. Most likely that demon will be here any moment. Besides, do you guys feel that?"

Everyone stilled, waiting to see what Hiei meant. Suddenly they felt it. A low humming vibrated through the air, flowing through their bones and down to their core. It was odd, yet not entirely unpleasant.

"What is that?" Yusuke wondered.

"It's the jewel." Hiei replied. "I felt that before, in the dollhouse, except it wasn't this strong. I almost didn't notice it; it was so faint. I finally noticed it when I was searching the kitchen for something edible in the dollhouse the demon placed me in. Back then I thought it was from the force field."

"It must be close." Kurama concluded. "Come on."

They followed the humming as it got stronger and stronger. As they walked, the feeling no longer felt like a dull humming but more of like a hard buzzing, as if the air itself was shaking. They could feel the power radiating from it, filling them, flowing through them as though it was passing through their very souls. The four of them rounded a final corner and stopped at the opening of a large cavern in shock. The walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in black canes of every size and shape, some glowing several different colors and some pulsing gently. Some canes were stacked vertically on top of one another, end to end, and some were standing sideways along the walls. And every single one of them had a small golden dollhouse carved on top, each with a different colored stone.

"Oh great." Yusuke scowled. "How the hell will we know which is the right one? There's gotta be thousands of them."

"Remember the picture?" Kurama asked. "Just narrow it down by looking for the ones that look like the picture and with the stones that are blood red."

"It looks like there's more than one with the same colored stone." Kuwabara said.

"Then smash them all." Hiei replied. "Smash every blood red stone you find. Leave none unbroken."

The others agreed and soon they were grabbing canes and smashing them against the stone covered walls. There was a flash of red light as each stone was smashed and they paused to look over at Hiei, noticed he was still miniature, and continued on to the next one. It wasn't until several minutes later that Kurama found one with a peculiar looking stone, one that looked more jewel like than stone. "I think I found it." Kurama called. He gently placed Hiei on the ground and brought the head of the cane up over his head, preparing to slam it against the wall when it suddenly lurched out of his grasp and floated through the air and into the orange outstretched hand of the Mannequin, who, for once, was not grinning.

* * *

**A/N: ****How was it? Interesting enough? Now comes the big battle. Will they be able to get the cane away from the demon and return Hiei to his normal self? Read on and find out. And because I'm so nice, I'll post the last chapter two days after I post this one, instead of waiting until I post the next chapter of my other story. You still gotta wait, but only two days. And those who read this two days after this chapter was posted won't have to worry about the wait. Lucky. Don't forget to review!**


	14. The Final Outcome

**A/N: I just want to thank all of my faithful readers, both reviewers and non-reviewers. Thank you ****crazyagent013****, ****Bouncefox****, ****TrisakAminawa****, ****IllusionOfAgony****, ****Kurama's Sister****, ****KyrinHasuko****, ****i-eat-midgets****, ****ShibuNoNeko****, ****moonray9****, ****YukinaTenryo****, ****Vhee****, ****BabySasuke****, ****KyoHana****, and ****Miyakomono****! Thank you all! Let's just cut straight to the end, shall we? And please read the author's note at the end. It will help I think.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or its characters. They belong to Yoshihiro Togashi. May he continue to write wonderful series like Yu Yu Hakusho. I do not own Chain Chomp, that belongs to Nintendo and whoever created him. I do not own the plastic green army men. That goes to whoever came up with that idea. My nephew also owns some. I do, however, own the Mannequin, his powers, the dragon, (but not the idea of 'dragon') the cave, and Koenma's faded book. All the imaginary things like that.**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: The Final Outcome**

The demon glared at them from the doorway of the cave, his eyes narrowing to slits as they zoned in on Hiei, making him look more snake-like than ever. "You children are more trouble than you're worth." He scowled. "Much too troublesome to keep around any longer. Time to dispose of you all, once and for all. Especially you, my little fireball." He growled to Hiei.

"Hn, very doubtful." Hiei muttered. "But go ahead and try."

"Gladly." The demon grinned maliciously. He raised the cane above his head, twirled it in the air like a baton, and brought it swooshing down to point at Hiei. Hiei dived into the pile of canes as a red flash burst several of them into cinders, the stones embedded in them exploding with numerous flashes of different colors. "Running away?" the demon cried mockingly.

Kurama, Yusuke, and Kuwabara spread out around the cave, preparing to fight. Hiei emerged from another pile of canes a few feet from where he had been previously. He quickly surveyed his surroundings, located the demon, and hurriedly dived back into the pile of canes as another burst of light hit his hiding spot.

"Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Yusuke shouted, aiming his Spirit Gun at the demon, the tip of his index finger glowing a bright blue as he built up power. The demon quickly jumped several feet into the air, performed a flip mid-fall and landed directly behind Yusuke. The demon whirled around, placed his hands under Yusuke's arms and tickled. Immediately, Yusuke's eyes bulged out of his skull and he let out a humiliating squeal and brought his arms down over the exposed area, causing him to lose concentration and send his Spirit Gun sailing into the air, where it collided with the ceiling and caused several stones to come falling down around them.

Angrily, Yusuke whirled around as the demon jumped away from him with a smirk. "Well, that was embarrassing." The demon teased. "Now I know why you always look so angry."

"Shut up!" Yusuke roared red-faced, rapidly firing a new Spirit Gun at the demon, who pirouetted away with a cackle.

The demon barely had time to land before he was forced to jump again as Kuwabara swung his sword several inches from where his head had been. Again, he was forced to jump away in order to avoid being caught by a thorny Rose Whip. He landed near a wall, placing a great distance between himself and all three of his attackers. Wait, three? He quickly scanned the room, counting. One, two, three… where was the fourth, his little fireball? Before he could locate Hiei, he was once again forced to defend himself, as a Rose Whip sailed over his head, followed closely by a long orange-glowing Spirit Blade and a blue ball from a Spirit Gun.

Kurama refused to give the demon a chance to come up with a counter attack. Quickly he sent a series of rapid slashes at the Mannequin, sending him stumbling backwards as he was forced to defend himself. Through the slashes, the demon raised his cane into the air and shouted something in a foreign language and Kurama was forced to shield himself behind a large mound of canes as a red blast soared over his head, blowing several canes around the cave. Yusuke and Kuwabara ducked to avoid getting speared by the shooting canes.

Kurama jumped to the side and slashed his whip at the demon, who quickly picked up another cane and let the whip wrap itself around it. Then he twisted his hand and jerked it backwards before placing the end of his own cane against the whip and sending a static-like charge back to its owner. Kurama cried out in pain as instinct forced him to release the whip or risk paralysis of his entire arm. The demon raised the newly acquired whip into the air and brought it slashing down at Yusuke, wrapping his wrists in the thorny vine as he had poised for another Spirit Gun. He jerked the whip again, causing Yusuke to jerk forward and release the Spirit Gun at Kuwabara, who was unable to dodge in time and ended up blown back by the blast.

The demon released the whip and shot another blast of red light at Yusuke, which exploded upon impact and sent Yusuke flying into the air and landing a few feet away in another pile of canes. Then the demon turned and pointed the tip of his cane at another large pile of canes. At first nothing happened that Kurama saw, but then the canes began to rise into the air. Slowly they turned, mid-air, and aimed their dollhouse ends in Kurama's direction before shooting towards him at lightening speed. Kurama ducked and dodged as they whistled past him, embedding themselves into the walls as they past, the stones exploding upon impact and sending Kurama skidding across the stone floor into another pile of canes.

"Who's laughing now?" the demon roared wildly, grabbing a handful of canes and tossing them at Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara. While they were distracted, the demon raised his cane above his head and muttered a short incantation. The cane began to glow a dark velvety red and a sudden blast sent the three of them flying backwards in opposite directions into the stone wall behind them, knocking the wind out of them as they slid down to the ground, canes and rubble raining down around them.

"You children better start saying your goodbyes now." The demon said dangerously, slinking towards them with the air of a predator that knew its prey was cornered. "It is time to eliminate you. Then I will search for my little fireball. Perhaps I will make him my pet; he was rather amusing." He raised the cane above his head once more, muttering another incantation; his entire body began to glow a dark blood red, making him look as if his blood was seeping through his skin and radiating around him in a thick mist. He whirled the cane in his hand, eying each of them in turn before his gaze landed on Kurama, slumped over against the wall, blood slithering down the side of his head. Slowly he turned and, with a final word, brought the cane whooshing through the air in Kurama's direction.

What happened next was beyond any of their expectations, including the Mannequin's. Hiei hung from the head of the cane, the roof of the gold dollhouse melted completely gone and the jewel that was once safely inside was now hurtling through the air, flung from the opening of the cane directly towards Kurama. "Kurama, move!" Hiei shouted, clinging desperately to the small walls of the melted dollhouse.

Kurama, using what little strength he had left after falling down a hole, landing on the hard ground some odd feet below, being chased around the tunnels by Chain Chomp, being pelted with falling debris as Chain Chomp collided with a stone wall, and being constantly flung in the air by the demon's cane, ducked and shoved himself away from the wall with all the effort he had left.

"NO!" the demon cried, watching in horror as the blood-red jewel collided with the stone wall and shattered, sending wave after wave of suppressed power radiating throughout the cave. The demon roared with rage and, as Hiei's body began to glow and expand rapidly, the demon whirled around and shoved Hiei against the wall of the cave, the head of the cane piercing through his stomach and causing him to cough up a lung full of blood.

"HIEI!" Yusuke cried, the three of them watching in horror as the demon let go of the handle and Hiei hung limply against the wall with the head of the cane still imbedded in his abdomen. Yusuke swelled with rage and surged to his feet, hand raised above his head and his index finger glowing with new found power. Yusuke pointed his finger at the demon and roared, "Spirit Gun!"

A large, built up ball of spiritual pressure erupted from the tip of Yusuke's finger and soared through the air with lightening speed and engulfed the now powerless demon, instantly disintegrating him. Huffing, Yusuke stood still for a moment, trying to shove the dizziness away. Finally he limped forward, Kurama and Kuwabara lurching to their feet as well, and headed to the wall where Hiei hung limply, blood trickling from his partly opened mouth and down his chin. "Hiei." Yusuke whispered, not daring to touch him in case he made something worse.

Kurama gently examined Hiei's limp body, which had finally grown to its original size. Then he turned to Yusuke and Kuwabara. "Stand on either side of him." He instructed. "Take one of his arms and legs and hold him steady. I'm going to pull the cane out and when I do, you guys carefully lower him to the ground."

Yusuke and Kuwabara nodded and got into position, each one gently grasping an arm and leg and waiting. Kurama firmly grasped the end of the cane and gave a swift tug, jerking the head of the cane free. Immediately, blood began to gush from the now open wound, soaking the front of Hiei's shirt and dripping to the stone floor. Yusuke and Kuwabara gently lowered him, face up, onto the ground, placing his arms by his sides. Kurama knelt down beside his still form and ripped off his blood-soaked shirt. The wound was a large jagged hole, square in shape from the cane, and had been stretched wide when his body had continued to grow.

"Is there anything you can do?" Yusuke asked. "That looks bad."

Kurama examined the wound without responding. Then he reached a hand into his hair and pulled out a single seed, which he poured enough energy into to make the seed grow out a couple leaves. Then he pulled one leaf off of its stem, crushed it up between his fingers and scattered the pieces into the open wound. He repeated the action once more before placing the seed on the ground and dusting his fingers on his pants. Gently he scooped Hiei into his arms and lifted him up. "That's all I can do right now. I'm too weak to do any more. We'll have to take him to Genkai's temple, where Yukina can tend to him."

Yusuke and Kuwabara nodded in agreement and started to head towards the cave's only opening. "Wait." Kurama said, stopping them. He toed the fallen cane. "We need to take this with us. And someone needs to go get the pieces of the shattered jewel."

"Where'd it go?" Kuwabara asked as Yusuke scooped up the cane.

"Here." Kurama carefully passed Hiei to Kuwabara, turned, and limped over to where the jewel had shattered. He scooped up as many of the pieces as he could find and headed back to the other two. "Okay, let's go."

"Wait, here, take him." Kuwabara said hastily. Kurama poured the shards into Yusuke's free hand and took Hiei from Kuwabara, who in turn, took the jewel shards from Yusuke. "Sorry, but I would rather not be the one to carry him if he suddenly wakes up and starts thrashing around."

Kurama nodded and the three of them slowly made their way back through the tunnels and eventually made their way out into the night filled woods they had started in.

* * *

Back at Genkai's temple, Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara sat in the main sitting room, drinking tea with Genkai and Botan as Yukina sat in another room with Hiei. As soon as they had entered the front gate of the temple, Yukina had hurried out to meet them, claiming that Genkai had sensed someone was in dire need of medical attention. Kurama had taken Hiei into a back room, where Yukina now sat, using her healing powers to mend the otherwise fatal wound. Moments later, as the team had finished their second cups of tea and concluded their tale of what happened down in the tunnels, Yukina emerged with a small smile on her gentle face.

"He's going to be okay." She replied to the waiting room. She walked over and sat down between Kurama and Genkai. She glanced up at Kurama. "His wound was serious and had somehow punctured his lung and abdomen at the same time but the herbs you put in the wound helped keep any infections from spreading. I was able to heal any internal injuries he received, as well as the punctured lung, before healing the wound itself." She paused and then added. "I'm sorry I didn't heal any of you right away."

"It's alright." Kurama assured her gently, showing her the wound on his temple that was almost gone. "Once I was able to get some of my energy back, I was able to heal the wounds we had with herbs. Hiei's injury was much more serious than any of ours. We were mostly exhausted."

"Besides," Yusuke added. "Family comes first."

"Huh?" Yukina asked quizzically. "Family?"

Kurama and Botan glared at Yusuke, who seemed to realize his slip and hastily added, "I mean, you know. Like how Hiei is part of the team and the team is basically like a family. And family comes before strangers, but that's not saying any of us are strangers because then we'd all be considered family. So I guess that didn't really mean much, huh?"

Everyone waited with baited breath to see how Yukina would react. Well, almost everyone. Kuwabara seemed just as confused as Yukina and Genkai looked like she didn't give a rat's ass about anything anyone was saying. Yukina looked puzzled for a moment before giving a small laugh. "I guess you're right." She giggled. Everyone who cared let out a sigh in relief.

"Well, I'm going to go take these to Koenma." Botan said, holding up the blood covered cane and pouch with the remaining shards of the jewel that had caused so much trouble.

"Wait, Botan." Kurama said. He reached out and quickly snatched back the pouch of jewel shards. "I don't believe Koenma quite deserves these just yet. After all, he failed to mention that the demon could use his stored up powers back at us. And he failed to mention that he could bring toys and cartoon and video game characters to life."

"Yeah!" Yusuke chimed in. "I think a little pay back is in order."

"Yeah, we all nearly got killed by a bunch of toys." Kuwabara piped up. "I was almost incinerated by a dragon and me, Kurama and Hiei were nearly crushed to death by Chain Chomp."

"But," Botan started.

Kurama gave her a piercing look. "I will hold on to these. When I feel better about Koenma, I will give them to him. Until then…" he used some of his newly gained energy to cause a tree branch to reach in through the open window and take the pouch from him, pulling it out through the window and out of sight.

Botan looked from Kurama to the window to Kurama again before sighing in defeat. "Oh, very well. But Koenma is not going to like this."

"I'm sure he won't." Kurama replied. He smiled up at her calmly. "Just tell him I said 'tough'. Maybe next time, he'll do his research before sending us off into battle with only half of our limbs, so to speak."

Botan sighed again before materializing her oar and soaring off into the night.

* * *

Kurama stood against his open window, gazing up at the calm night sky. These past few days had been quite interesting, if nothing else. It was difficult to believe that so much had happened in only three days. No wonder they were all exhausted. It was time for a well deserved break for all of them.

"You feeling any better?" Kurama softly asked the night.

"A bit." A voice replied from above him.

Kurama smiled and glanced up at Hiei, standing on the roof above him. "That's good. We wouldn't want anything bad happening to you."

"Hn." Hiei replied, glancing up at the moon.

Kurama blinked and suddenly Hiei was beside him in his room, sitting on the window sill. "You crashing here tonight?" he asked.

"Maybe." Hiei answered curtly.

Kurama smiled knowingly and nodded, turning away from the window and heading towards his bed. "Well, I'm going to bed. If you do decide to stay, don't leave the window open so wide this time. Last time you did that, I woke up with frost all over the place."

"It wasn't **that **cold." Hiei replied. "You're exaggerating."

"It was winter." Kurama replied incredulously. "And it was snowing outside."

Hiei smirked, his gaze shifting from the open window to his red-headed friend. "Like I said; it wasn't **that **cold. You're exaggerating."

Kurama rolled his eyes and turned off the light before getting into bed and pulling the blankets up to his chest. "Whatever you say, Fireball."

Hiei growled. "Don't. Ever. Call. Me. That. Again." He hissed through clenched teeth, his cheeks tinting pink.

Kurama chuckled softly and turned to face the wall. "Good night, Hiei."

* * *

**A/N: ****Whoohoo! The end! It's over! What did you guys think? I got the idea for the Mannequin's behavior from the authors, Koko-chan and The Blue Spanch, who wrote a story called The Harlequin. It's actually really good and so funny. You should all read it when you get the chance, even though it's not on FFN. Just go to google and type in the title and author. You should find it.**

**Anyway, that's how I got the idea for Mannequin's behavior but I didn't copy. I just took the idea and added a bit of different actions and stuff. If you read it, you'd notice the difference. But what did you think of this? Good ending? Bad ending? Tell Me! Come on, this will be my last time asking. Please review!**

**I will now be taking some time off from posting until June first. Those of you who like my writing and want to read more of my stuff, you can either read my other stories, (which are not all Yu Yu Hakusho, though that is my favorite subject) or you can wait until the first of June. I am making it the first of June because classes end the first week of June and I need to study for finals and other unpleasantries that coincide with school. I will be writing still; I just won't be posting. It will give me time to write as much as I can when I can and study for finals. Thanks for being patient with me! And hope to hear from you all again in my future stories!**


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